After suffering another knee injury in February of 2015, Detroit Tigers designated hitter Victor Martinez went on to have quite arguably the worst season of his career last year, hitting only .245/.301/.366 with 11 home runs and 64 RBIs. The switch-hitter really struggled from the left side of the plate, posting a mere .615 OPS.
This winter, Martinez turned 37 years old and entered spring training slated to be one of the team’s only left-handed hitting regulars. While he may have been a big question mark for some, V-Mart has actually been tearing up the Grapefruit League and looking a lot like his former self thus far.
Through six games this spring, Martinez is batting a robust .412/.444/.824 with a pair of homers. Admittedly, spring training numbers should be taken with a grain of salt, especially this early on, but it still obviously comes as a major relief to see him swinging the bat as well as he is.
During the 13 seasons he has spent in MLB, Martinez has been an incredibly fun hitter to watch when he has been healthy, and he has posted impressive numbers along the way. He has racked up 1,776 hits, 200 home runs and is still a .302 lifetime hitter.
Just two years ago, Martinez put up a career year at the age of 35, hitting .335/.409/.565 with 32 home runs and 103 RBIs to finish second to Mike Trout in the AL MVP race. The Tigers don’t need him to post numbers as gaudy as those once again, but they certainly need him to be better than he was last year.
Just judging from his small sample size of at-bats this spring, it wouldn’t be too shocking to see Martinez’s batting average hovering around the .290-.300 mark with 15-20 home runs by the time next fall rolls around. With all of the other big bats in the Tigers’ lineup, that should be sufficient production from their DH.
