Batting average .275 Name J. Martinez Hits 533 Role Baseball player | Home runs 85 Height 1.91 m Runs batted in 304 Salary 497,800 USD (2013) | |
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Current team Detroit Tigers (#28 / Outfielder) Education Nova Southeastern University Parents Julio Martinez, Mayra Martinez Similar People Victor Martinez, Ian Kinsler, Miguel Cabrera, Nick Castellanos, Jose Iglesias Profiles | ||
Julio Daniel Martinez (born August 21, 1987) is an American professional baseball right fielder for the Arizona Diamondbacks of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played for the Houston Astros and Detroit Tigers. Martinez is of Cuban descent. He is one of 18 players in MLB history to hit four home runs in a single game.
Contents
- Amateur career
- Houston Astros
- 2014 season
- 2015 season
- 2016 season
- 2017 season
- Arizona Diamondbacks
- Awards
- References
Amateur career
Martinez attended Flanagan High School in Pembroke Pines, Florida. He graduated in 2006. The Minnesota Twins selected Martinez in the 36th round, with the 1,086th overall selection, of the 2006 Major League Baseball draft, but he did not sign with the Twins. Martinez attended Nova Southeastern University, where he played college baseball for the Nova Southeastern Sharks from 2007 through 2009. He was a two-time All-Sunshine State Conference baseball player.
Houston Astros
The Houston Astros selected Martinez in the 20th round, with the 611th overall selection, of the 2009 Major League Baseball draft. He was signed by Greg Brown, who is now the head coach at NSU.
Martinez started his professional career with the Greeneville Astros of the Rookie-level Appalachian League, where he batted .403 before earning a promotion to the Tri-City ValleyCats of the Class A-Short Season New York–Penn League. He started the 2010 season with Lexington Legends of the Class A South Atlantic League, where he earned a mid-season promotion to the Corpus Christi Hooks of the Class AA Texas League. He started the 2011 season with Corpus Christi before earning a promotion to the big leagues.
On July 30, 2011, Martinez was called up to replace Hunter Pence, who was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies. He became the first player drafted out of Nova Southeastern University to debut in Major League baseball.
On April 13, 2012, Martinez hit the first ever home run in the new Marlins Park. With a man on in the eighth, he deposited an Edward Mujica offering into the Clevelander bar beyond the left-field wall for a game-tying blast.
Martinez was outrighted off the Astros roster on November 20, 2013. He was released by the team on March 22, 2014.
2014 season
On March 24, 2014, the Detroit Tigers signed Martinez to a minor league contract. After he hit 10 home runs and drove in 22 runs over his first 17 games with the Triple-A Toledo Mud Hens, the Tigers purchased his contract, and he was called up and played his first game on April 21.
Martinez was awarded the MLB Player of the Week Award for the period ending June 22, 2014. Martinez batted .444 (12-for-27) with three doubles, four home runs (including one grand slam), 11 RBIs and six runs scored in seven games to win his first career weekly honor. Martinez was named the Detroit Tigers' player of the month for June. Martinez batted .345 with nine doubles, seven home runs and 21 RBIs in the month of June, including a career-high 14 game hit streak. Martinez was tied for third in the American League in home runs during June. Martinez finished the regular season with 30 doubles, 23 home runs, 76 RBIs, and a .315 batting average.
On October 3, during Game 2 of the 2014 ALDS against the Baltimore Orioles, Martinez became the first player in Tigers history to hit a home run in each of his first two career postseason games, and the 16th player in Major League history. Martinez finished the postseason with one double, two home runs, and five RBIs in three games as the Tigers were swept by the Orioles.
2015 season
On January 16, 2015, Martinez and the Tigers avoided arbitration when the two parties agreed on a one-year, $3 million contract for the 2015 season.
On June 21, 2015, Martinez hit three home runs and had six RBIs in a game against the New York Yankees, becoming the first Tigers player to do so since Miguel Cabrera did it in May 2013.
Martinez was awarded the AL Player of the Week award for the period ending July 5, 2015. Martinez batted .458 (11 for 24) with six runs scored, four home runs, one double, and 10 RBIs in six games to win his second career weekly honor. He paced the Majors in slugging percentage (1.000) and total bases (24), and finished tied for first in home runs. Among AL leaders, he finished tied for first in on-base percentage (.500), second in RBI, third in batting average, tied for third in hits and tied for fourth in runs scored. On July 6, 2015, Martinez was named as a reserve for the American League at the 2015 All-Star Game.
Following the 2015 season, Martinez was awarded his first career Silver Slugger Award. He finished the season with a .282 batting average, and reached career highs of 33 doubles, 38 home runs and 102 RBI. His 38 home runs marked the third-highest total by a Tigers outfielder, trailing only Rocky Colavito's 45 in 1961 and Hank Greenberg's 41 in 1940. Martinez's 102 RBIs marked the most by a Tiger outfielder since Magglio Ordóñez drove in 103 in 2008. Martinez's 319 total bases ranked fifth among all AL hitters. His 109 runs created ranked eighth, and his .897 OPS ranked ninth. He was named the 2015 Tiger of the Year by the Detroit chapter of the Baseball Writers' Association of America.
In addition, Martinez was a finalist for his first Gold Glove Award in right field, but lost to Kole Calhoun of the Angels. His 15 outfield assists ranked second in the AL, his .993 fielding percentage led all AL right fielders, and his 7.7 ultimate zone rating ranked second among AL right fielders.
2016 season
On February 8, 2016, the Tigers signed Martinez to a two-year, $18.5 million contract extension.
Martinez was placed on the 15-day disabled list after a June 16 game against the Kansas City Royals, having suffered a non-displaced fracture in his right elbow caused by running into the outfield wall. At the time of the injury, Martinez was hitting .286 with 12 home runs and 39 RBI.
On August 3 against the Chicago White Sox, in his first game after being activated from the disabled list, Martinez hit a pinch-hit game-winning solo home run off Chris Sale on the first pitch of the at-bat. Martinez played 120 games in the injury-shortened 2016 season, and hit .307 with 22 home runs and 68 RBI.
2017 season
During a Spring Training game on March 18, 2017, Martinez left the game with an apparent foot injury. One week later, on March 25, further tests revealed that there was a lisfranc sprain in his right foot. As a result, Martinez began the season on the 10-day disabled list, with 3-4 weeks to recover. He rejoined the Tigers on May 12 after a four–game rehab stint with Toledo.
Martinez was awarded the AL Player of the Week award for the period ending May 21. Martinez batted .389 (7 for 18) with seven runs scored, four home runs, and nine RBIs while reaching base 17 times in six games to win his third career weekly honor. Martinez was awarded the AL Player of the Week award for the period ending July 16. Martinez batted .454 (5 for 11), with two runs scored, two home runs, and seven RBIs in three games to win his fourth career weekly honor. During the 2017 season with the Tigers, Martinez batted .305 with 16 home runs, 39 RBIs, and a 1.018 OPS. He hit .300 with 99 home runs, 285 RBIs, and a .912 OPS over four seasons with the Tigers.
Arizona Diamondbacks
On July 18, 2017, Martinez was traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks in exchange for Dawel Lugo, Sergio Alcantara, and Jose King. On September 4, against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Martinez became the 18th player in MLB history, and the first player in Diamondbacks history, to hit four home runs in one game, doing so in four consecutive at-bats against four different pitchers. In addition, he became the first player with that distinction to have more home runs than the opposing team had hits that night. Martinez is also the first player in the modern era to hit a home run in the seventh, eighth, and ninth innings of the same game. Martinez was awarded the NL Player of the Week award for the period ending September 10. Martinez batted .429 with seven home runs and 11 RBIs, including a four-homer game.
On September 17, against the San Francisco Giants, Martinez recorded his 40th home run of the season, reaching the milestone for the first time in his career, and becoming just the fifth player to reach 40 home runs while playing for two different teams in one season. Martinez was awarded the NL Player of the Week award for the period ending September 17. Martinez batted .435 with three home runs, 6 RBIs, and eight runs scored in six games. He became the first NL player to win consecutive Player of the Week Awards since Bryce Harper in May 2015. He also became the first player to earn the honor four times in the same season since the award was created in 1974.