J.D. Martinez changed baseball hitting philosophy once. Maybe he’s playing a part in changing it again. Martinez was one of the original fly-ball revolutionaries. He was one of the first hitters to go against convention, possibly risking his career, by adopting an uppercut swing to try to hit for more power. Like many hitters, he […]
Most years, the American League’s Most Valuable Player award is basically Mike Trout’s hardware to lose. In his five full MLB seasons, the Los Angeles Angels outfielder never finished lower than second in MVP voting — winning the honor twice — and he led the AL in wins above replacement each of those campaigns. Before […]
When the Boston Red Sox signed free agent slugger J.D. Martinez this past offseason, it looked like a match made in baseball heaven. As a right-handed power hitter who’d recently embraced MLB’s fly-ball revolution — to great effect — Martinez fit perfectly into one of the Sox’s longest-standing narratives for building around the quirks of […]
In becoming the 18th major-league player to hit four homers in a game (and the second player this season), Arizona Diamondbacks outfielder J.D. Martinez did something rarer than a perfect game. But in accomplishing the feat, Martinez has also become the poster boy of one baseball’s biggest trends: the overnight fly ball-smashing sensation. Martinez began […]
In becoming the 18th major-league player to hit four homers in a game (and the second player this season), Arizona Diamondbacks outfielder J.D. Martinez did something rarer than a perfect game. But in accomplishing the feat, Martinez has also become the poster boy of one baseball’s biggest trends: the overnight fly ball-smashing sensation. Martinez began […]
