The 5: Stats to wow you over Diamondback J.D. Martinez’s rise
Sep 29, 2017, 12:38 PM
Arizona Diamondbacks' J.D. Martinez follows the flight of his three-run home run off Colorado Rockies starting pitcher Jon Gray in the first inning of a baseball game Saturday, Sept. 2, 2017, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
(AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
Three games remain for the Arizona Diamondbacks.
That’s three games for slugger J.D. Martinez to continue putting up historical totals and reach marks unseen, even in this home-run-happy era of baseball. Asked Wednesday after hitting a clutch ninth-inning bomb if he surprises himself, Martinez expressed how he deflects all the distractions to keep his home run haul going.
“There’s like no right way to answer it,” he said. “If I say, ‘yes,’ then it’s like I’m not supposed to, I don’t think I could do it. If I say, ‘no,’ then I’m arrogant, I’m cocky. I mean, I just feel like right now it’s just having success and doing what i want to do up there. I feel comfortable in the box and I’m getting results.”
Maybe Martinez isn’t thinking about his home runs. But D-backs fans are.
They already know his 16 September home runs matched a record for the month that’s held since 1949. Here are five stats to explain just how ridiculous his season — and his short stretch with Arizona — has been.
7
Per Elias, Martinez is the seventh player in MLB history to hit more than 45 home runs in his first 116 games of the year. And he’s the first since Barry Bonds cranked out 54 in 2001. The D-backs outfielder sits at 45 dingers in 57 games with the Detroit Tigers and then 59 with Arizona.
Martinez missed the majority of his time this season due to a lisfranc injury in his foot. He didn’t appear until May 12, missing more than the first month of the season. Then, Martinez missed three games after being hit by a pitch in his hand during his D-backs debut before returning hotter than ever.
72
Martinez leads MLB with 72 RBI since the All-Star break, four better than the Marlins’ Giancarlo Stanton prior to Thursday’s action. He and Stanton also have a MLB-leading 31 home runs over that span.
29
Martinez’s home run totals since arriving in the Valley are so bonkers that he’s even putting up somewhat comparable totals when compared to teams.
Per Grant Brisbee, Martinez’s 29 home runs since arriving in Arizona on July 19 match the amount of home runs the San Francisco Giants have hit since Aug. 19. I think it’s fair to say we can give Martinez a month’s cushion when comparing him to an entire team, yes?
162
The aforementioned statistic on Martinez’ 116-game run in 2017 might make you wonder how his numbers would look over 162 games.
Well, according to Ryan Spaeder, they are as ridiculous as you might imagine.
Over his last 162 games, Martinez is hitting .310 with 53 home runs and 130 runs batted in, scoring 112 runs and posting a slugging percentage of .650.
18
The D-backs have not only clinched a Wild Card spot, but the game being played at home as well, so why should D-backs fans keep their eyes glued to Friday and Saturday’s games in Kansas City?
It’s for another chance at history for Martinez. We already mentioned the number 16 for the month of September, but 18 is the goal.
In those two games, Martinez has the chance to not only set the record for most home runs in the month of September in the National League, but the majors as well. The focus is on Martinez hitting one more long ball to top Kiner’s mark of 16 from 1949, but with two, he would also top Babe Ruth (1927) and Albert Belle’s (1995) 17 as both the American and Major League record in the month.
It’s not very often you can see a sports record that has stood for nearly 90 years be broken, but there’s a chance of that happening this weekend.
In case Martinez goes nuclear, the record for most in a month is 20 by Sammy Sosa in 1998, both in the National League and the majors.
