Victor Martinez, The Force Behind The 2018 Detroit Tigers

Since his arrival with the Detroit Tigers, the one-time catcher has primarily filled the role as a designated hitter. The switch-hitter has a career .298 batting average and has been known for timely hits and home runs.

In addition to his hefty lifetime batting average, Victor Martinez has a career of 2036 hits, 237 Home Runs and 1,124 Runs Batted In and is among the top of all of these categories for currently active players.

Until a down year in 2017, Victor was the clean-up hitter for the Detroit Tigers and responsible for driving in baserunners such as Miguel Cabrera. As the 2017 season progressed and with his bat faltering, Martinez was dropped to 6th in the order.

He was no longer that steady and timely hitter of the past. With the loss of power hitters such as Justin Upton, J.D Martinez and the steady but sure leadoff hitter Ian Kinsler, Detroit’s offensive capabilities took a giant hit.

To make matters worse, Miguel Cabrera and Victor Martinez had the worst year of their careers. Both hitters saw a significant decline in batting average, home runs and runs batted in.

With Victor Martinez’ untimely demise at the bat in 2017, he lost the title of one of the game’s pure hitters. As for probable Hall Of Famer Cabrera, 2017 is simply referred to as an off-year.

Whether due to health problems, uncertainty arising from social/welfare problems in his country of origin or perhaps age, Victor had a bad year.