Detroit Tigers Roster Preview: Victor Martinez

Jul 22, 2014; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Detroit Tigers first baseman Victor Martinez against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Quick hits
Name: Victor Martinez
Age: 36
Position: Designated hitter
Salary: $12 million dollars
Height: 6’ 2”
Twitter handle: N/A
How the Detroit Tigers got him: Signed with the Tigers in November of 2010, and then resigned for another 4 years in 2014.

2014 season recap

Victor Martinez had a great season at the designated hitter spot for the Detroit Tigers. Martinez played in 151 games and went to the plate 641 times. He registered 188 hits those being 33 doubles and 32 home runs and 103 RBI. Martinez also walked 70 times and only struck out 42 times.

Martinez also led the league in OPS at .974 and batting average for all catchers in the league. Doing so helped Martinez win a Silver Slugger award for the 2014 season. He helped make the Detroit Tigers lineup a very scary one for opposing teams throughout the season. The middle of the Tigers lineup was helped out by the bat of Martinez along with Miguel Cabrera.

2015 Season Potential

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Detroit Tigers

For the 2015 season, I see Martinez not being as great as he was last season, but only due to the injury he suffered in the preseason. He is projected to play for the first time this spring since the injury in the next coming week or so. However if history has shown us anything after an injury to the designated hitter, he can still have not a great, but pretty good season.

Martinez could hit above .300 again this season, honestly you may see similar numbers that he had in 2013 when he returned from another knee injury. So you are looking at 80ish RBI, lower in the home run department so 20 or so. Either way, Martinez if he heals correctly from this injury can still be a very helpful player for the team and while he may not have a repeat of last season, it will still be fun to watch him play this season.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Weaknesses

He really isn’t super-fast, he didn’t register a triple last season, and in fact in his entire MLB career he has hit 3 triples. He also only has 7 career stolen bases, so if you needed any more proof that he isn’t the fastest on the team, that is pretty good proof. Is that really a weakness from a 36 year DH? No not really, but if you were looking for something, that is all I could come up with.

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He injured the same knee in the past 4 seasons and that is a little worrisome, but then again, he seems to come back from injury fairly well so again, really a weakness? Ehh you decide for yourself on this one.

Strengths

He is still a great hitter that while he may get injured in the off-season, he seems to stay healthy throughout the season and that is always a huge plus for players on your team. Other than that he is just a great hitter that can also fill in for you at first base if you ever need him to.

Also, he is a switch hitter, no matter what that is a strengths for a player. Having a hitter that can hit from both sides of the plate is helpful because it puts the batter in the better spot against a pitcher on any team.

Depth Chart