Victor Martinez, The Force Behind The 2018 Detroit Tigers

After a disastrous and demoralizing 2017 season, the Detroit Tigers need Victor Martinez if they are to succeed this year.

Victor Martinez began his successful career with the Detroit Tigers in the spring of 2015. The 39-year-old Venezuelan is now entering his 17th year in the major leagues.

He was first signed by the Cleveland Indians as a free agent in 1996.

In 2002, at the age of 23, he made his major league debut as a September call-up for the Indians. Since his first full year in the major leagues in 2004, Victor has been one of the most prolific bats in any line-up he has been in.

Victor Martinez’ major league career has included all-star stints in Cleveland and Boston. In 2014 he finished second in MVP balloting and was quickly signed by the Tigers for a $50 million/ 4-year contract.

Victor’s career has included 5 all-star appearances (2004,2007,2009,2010, 2014) and 2 Silver Slugger Awards (2004,2013). He was also awarded the Edgar Martinez Award for best Designated Hitter in 2014.

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.

The Detroit FreePress labeled Martinez as “privileged” when stories following the “tussle” broke. Word was that Martinez saw himself above the fray.

It was further reported that V-Mart did not spend appreciable time in the clubhouse or with the team members themselves.

General Manager Al Avila has discussed Victor’s situation on numerous occasions during the offseason. He has stated that Victor is in good physical shape and is expected to be the solid contributing factor in this year’s lineup.

If they are to have a successful season, the Tigers need a healthy and contributing Victor Martinez. For the Detroit Tigers to have a good year, two factors come into play. First, it is imperative that our young pitchers progress and second, that our offense produces hits and runs batted in.

Michael Fulmer and Jordan Zimmerman have proven that they are sound starting pitchers. Matt Boyd, Mike Fiers and, Daniel Norris must also do the same.

To overcome the significant losses of offensive capabilities from last year, Nicholas Castellanos, Jeimer Candelario, Miguel Cabrera and Victor Martinez must have outstanding years.

While Miggy plays Candy Crush in hitter’s meetings, Victor is known to closely analyze opposing pitching staffs. He apparently is a walking dictionary of the opposition’s strengths and weaknesses.

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It is that type of mental fortitude that has made Victor one of the best pure hitters in the game. It is also what Detroit needs to succeed in 2018; leadership and skill.

Hopefully, we are simply looking at 2017 as an off-year. I pray that we are not looking at the downside of his illustrious career.