A Diamond in the rough

Last season as a Detroit Tigers fan one of the biggest highlights for the team was the addition of JD Martinez. A 20th round pick in the 2009 draft by the Houston Astros, Martinez would slug his way through the minors and making his major league debut on July 30th, 2011. In his first half season with the Astros he would hit .274/.319/.423, but the following two years he would see a decline in his numbers.

On March 22nd, 2014 the Astros would decide to part ways with JD. It would only take two days for another team to pick him up on a minor league contract. That team would be the Detroit Tigers. Once again JD would find himself smashing the ball in the minors while playing for the Toledo Mud Hens. With having 10 home runs in the first 17 games of the season, the Tigers decided to move JD to the majors. Now this time around he would continue to swing a hot bat in the majors. He would finish the season hitting .315/.358/.553 with 23 home runs and 76 RBIs.

It seems like some writers think JD will be just a one hit wonder. It will be hard to see him produce another season with an OPS+ of 149. I predict a .285/.350/.460 season from him this year. The reason I believe in JD is everything I hear about his work ethic. If you follow him on Instragram you will he has became pretty close with baseball best hitter and his teammate, Miguel Cabrera. On top of that CJ Nitkowski wrote a nice article about how he watches proven hitters to see what they do to make them successful. On top of that he also keeps a journal of every at bat he takes and writes what is and what isn't working with his swing. This way he can go back and see what he needs to change. I truly believe the Tigers found a diamond in the rough with JD Martinez last season.