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POTD Victor Martinez

Send More Martinezes to DH. The First One Played Perfect

Sez Rick the Biology Mag Editor,

rick82: Drayer seriously doubts the M's will go after Tomas, but thinks they'll be serious after VMart

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Sez Aristotle, for only $3 per month ... there are like 200 of these Q-and-A mini-essays in the Hey Bill section alone, remember ...

Aristotle was like the guy who invented logic or something. :: crickets :: Nobody ever gets me.

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So Victor Martinez ended up with 70 walks and 42 strikeouts. His HRs (32) were also in the ballpark of his strikeouts. You've pointed out how rare it is these days for hitters to have low strikeout totals, especially when compared to 50-60 years ago, but are Martinez's totals particularly freaky? (I also heard the Tiger radio guys say he hit .377 with two strikes, which they said "That just doesn't make sense!")

Asked by: julesig

Answered: 10/7/2014

Martinez' strikeout/walk data is extraordinary in context. The only other major league player with more walks than strikeouts this year in 200 or more Plate Appearances was Jose Bautista, who was +8 (104 to 96); Victor was +28. In baseball history there are 165 players who have hit 25 or more homers with 50 or fewer walks, but of those 165, 14 did it in the 1920s, 37 in the 1930s, 30 in the 1940s, and 43 in the 1950s. That leaves 41 who have done it since 1960; of those 41, 8 were in the 1960s, 8 in the 1970s, and 10 in the 1980s. That leaves 13 since 1990. The last to do that before Victor was Carlos Lee in 2008.

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Answer looks simple to Dr. D. Go get Victor Martinez and Jose Bautista.

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Anybody else think of this as the Joe DiMaggio stat, where a guy gets as many balls over the fence as he gets Strike Threes? I don't know what Spec's latest stat is, but that's got to be in there somewhere.

Dr. D views Victor Martinez as a gloriously talented hitter ... I mean, if you are hitting the ball hard, and you never miss when you swing, you're a couple of BB's away from being Miguel Cabrera before we ever talk about anything else.

Victor Martinez' slash line is different from Robinson Cano's mostly because of:

The home parks, and
The partial years (2002, 03, 08, and the bounceback 2013 seasons cut his stats)

Two Robinson Cano's, one left and one right. Huh. (Oh, wait. That's talking about Victor Martinez by himself, isn't it?)

SSI wouldn't expect 32 dings and 103 ribbies next year. But SSI also had little problem with Robinson Cano's statistics in 2014. Some guys are great without the black ink.

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Q. How will Martinez age?

A. Better, as a DH. Better, as a guy coming off a 70 BB, 42 K season. Better, as an ex-catcher who obviously loves ex-catching.

Comp him to any group you like, Tony, but remember to comp him to 36-year-old guys who just had as many balls over the fence as they had Strike Three's .... ;- )

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The M's are one of the few teams with absolutely nothing against pure DH's, whether it be in their dugout or on their street signs. Further, we are advised that V-Mart and L-Mac be BFF's. So it's worth drooling.

The big argument is going to be, how many years. Three? Four? The Mariners' trends on this issue have been towards the right side of the integer scale. If you can give Robby 10, maybe you can give V-Mart four. As with Robby, you get a value early and you he gets a value late.

Finish with a chuckle? Here's where he says he doesn't even want a long contract.

Happy to oblige,

Dr D

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