Kansas City Royals Jose Martinez Having Historic Season
By David Hill
There is a certain mystique to certain numbers throughout baseball. Sixty home runs, thirty wins and other benchmarks have a place in the collective minds of baseball fans as truly special marks, numbers that have become legendary due to the rarity in how often they are reached. One of those numbers is the .400 batting average, a mark last reached in the major leagues by Ted Williams. Now, in the Pacific Coast League, that .400 batting average is being threatened by Kansas City Royals farmhand Jose Martinez.
When the Royals signed Martinez to a minor league contract on January 28th of this past season, it was one of those moves that flew under the radar. Martinez had been in the minors for the previous eight seasons, bouncing between different organizations and the independent leagues. As a 26 year old who had never played above the AA level, Martinez was not the sort of player that would be considered noteworthy.
However, Martinez is changing that perception this year. In his first season at the AAA level, Martinez is having the sort of season that players dream about, producing a .392/.462/.583 batting line heading into last night’s slate of action. That .392 batting average, if Martinez is able to maintain that through the rest of the season, would break the modern day record for the Pacific Coast League, set in 2005 when Rick Short had a .383 batting average.
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Right now, Jose Martinez is just shy of qualifying for the Pacific Coast League batting title, having missed a month of the season due to injury. However, he has not slowed down at all since his return to the lineup, posting a stellar .407/.479/.604 batting line in his fifty games since being activated from the disabled list. Even his power, which is not typically a strength for Martinez, has increased, as he has hit six home runs and 14 doubles.
At age 26, Martinez is still young enough to carve out a major league career. There are quite a few players who toiled in the minors for years before getting their chance at a major league opportunity, only to seize hold of a role and become a viable major league player. Martinez, with his production this season, is sure to be of interest in the offseason, and may attract more attention than the typical minor league free agent.
Jose Martinez is having a season that could be destined for the Pacific Coast League history books. It has been an amazing year for a player that the Kansas City Royals signed off the scrapheap.