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.

His 2017 season was cut short by an irregular heartbeat. A stint on the disabled list did not alleviate this problem.

He, ultimately, underwent a cardiac ablation procedure ending a dismal .255 average/10 home runs and 47 RBI’s season.

As an outsider looking in, his actions somewhat reminded me of Max Scherzer when he was in a Tiger uniform. Whether it was in spring training or in the regular season, Max seemed distant and aloof from other Detroit players.

Scherzer did not appear to be a ‘team player’.

Last year, I had the same feelings about Victor. Whether on the field or in the clubhouse the old team leader appeared absent.

In August of 2017, things came to a head following an on-the-field brawl between the New York Yankees and the Tigers. Justin Verlander and Martinez were spotted arguing in the dugout after Tiger players objected to V-Mart’s neutrality in the confrontation.

Verlander, apparently, was attempting to light a fire in the heart of Martinez. The attempt failed.