In his own words, Martinez comes off as a star uniquely prepared for Boston - even the hecklers

The landscape is littered with new Red Sox players who couldn't make the successful transition to Boston.

Carl Crawford buckled under the weight of expectations. Adrian Gonzalez chafed at the scrutiny. David Price has found it to be negative and, at times, overwhelming.

But J.D. Martinez has made the switch seamlessly. His performance has helped lead the Red Sox to the second-best record in baseball and helped earn him American League Player of the Week honors Monday. He's among the league leaders in virtually every significant offensive category. His presence has helped lengthen a Red Sox lineup that is second in runs scored and home runs hit.

Off the field, the transition has been effortless. Martinez regularly discusses hitting with Mookie Betts, Xander Bogaerts and others, sharing his theories and scouting reports. On Sunday, after he walloped two more homers, he spoke with BostonSportsJournal.com of how frequently he and his teammates "talk smack'' to one another in the dugout, joking and prodding.

Problems? What problems?

"To me, I think sometimes people get caught up in the whole 'big market,' Red Sox-type of deal,'' said Martinez recently. "You know, you're center stage, all that crap. You see a lot of guys crash when they start believing that they're more than just a baseball player. They start feeling like they're celebrities, or something. You know what I mean?

"To me, I'm a baseball player. I'll never try to think I'm anything else. I worry about what I can worry about. Whether the fans boo me or don't, I don't care. All I know is that I do my best every day. I work my butt off. I study, I prepare myself. I'll hold (my preparation) against anybody in the league. I think I do that as well as anyone. And that's all I can control. I really don't get caught up in all of that ... noise."

Manager Alex Cora, who has witnessed others struggle in trying to adapt to Boston, never had a worry about Martinez, thanks to a meeting the Sox had with the then-free agent at the winter meetings last December.

"I go back to that meeting in Orlando and the way he talked about baseball,'' said Cora, "and how much he cares. I came out of that meeting and I was like,  'If this happens, he'll be fine,' because it's baseball all the time, every day for him. Between working on his swing, watching video and taking notes, it's his passion. And as we know, it's a passionate sports town. They're passionate about our team and he fits right in.''

Martinez isn't one to concern himself with how many Sunday night games the team plays (as Gonzalez did), or where hits in the lineup (like Crawford), or even the sometimes suffocating media coverage.

He's had experiences in other cities, having played in Houston, Detroit, and for a half-season last year, Phoenix. But while Boston may be bigger and more baseball-crazed than those markets, in some ways, it doesn't offer any new challenges.

Then again, he's had some past experience to draw upon to provide him with perspective.

"I remember seeing and hearing on TV that Boston is a big market,'' Martinez said, "that there's a lot of noise, Boston's this and that, can you handle all that? But I was like, 'Dude, I handled getting released.' I've been to the bottom and I think it built my mental toughness to not worry about what fans say.''

The "bottom'' to which Martinez refers came in 2014, when the Astros designated him for assignment in the middle of spring training. While some Houston teammates offered him their condolences for being cut adrift, Martinez was strangely sanguine, knowing that he had unlocked some things about his swing and that improved performance was right around the corner.

But being humbled in 2014 wasn't a one-time occurrence.

"Honestly, when I look at my story,'' said Martinez, "(it starts) in high school, when I didn't have any D-1 offers. We won two state championships, and I remember sitting on the bus wondering, 'Am I ever going to play baseball again?' I remember going and trying out for all these D-2 schools and barely getting an offer. Then, the draft, everyone's telling me I'm going to go in the Top 10 and I don't go until the 20th round. Then, they send me to Rookie Ball and I'm the sixth outfielder. I'm not even playing. Two guys have to get injured for me to get a chance.

"To me, my story ... I wouldn't trade my story for anybody's. I love my story. It could have been easy for me. You look around and for the most part, a lot of the best players, it's been, for the most part, silver spoon. You have all the hype coming in, everyone talks about how great you are, you cruise your way through the minors. You can hit .270 and you're still getting (promoted). Me, I always had to show up. My Dad always told me, 'You do your talking with your bat.' To me, that's the part of my story I think it's made me the player, the person I am today.''

"People always tell me, 'J.D., you're very humble; it's weird for a player of your caliber.' To me, that's the biggest compliment people could give me when people say that because that's how I've always wanted to be. I've been around some big names who show up and just kind of shoo you away.  I take a lot of pride in it. To me, because of all the failure, all the stuff that I went through, it's made me who I am. It's given me that the mental toughness so that when the (crap) hits the fan, you're going to be OK.''

Remarkably, Martinez's brilliant start hasn't made him immune from criticism from the home fans in his own ballpark.

"I've been booed,'' he said. "They've been talking crap to me in the outfield, here, in left field. I just laugh about it. I'm like, 'You guys are clueless.' The kind of stuff they yell, it's like, 'What are you even saying right now?' It's part of it. The fans are passionate. It's cool. I get so locked in and I'm so focused on what I'm doing that I really don't pay attention to it.''

Asked to cite an example, Martinez recalled a game in which he was playing left when Baltimore's Chris Davis hit a ball off the end of his bat. Given Davis' strength, Martinez initially took a step back before coming in to field the ball on playing it on one hop for a single.

"It was, 'You've got to dive ... You're lazy ... You're a DH ... Why are you in the outfield? ... You shouldn't be out here ... You should just go in and hit ...'" Martinez said, chuckling at the memory. "I'm like, 'Oh my God.' You hear all kinds of crap. But whatever. I don't care about that. That's all negative noise.''

Mostly, Martinez seeks to intentionally keep a low profile. While he's been accommodating with the media, he's seldom in the clubhouse pre-game, limiting his availability.

"I stay quiet,'' he said. "I keep more to myself. I try to avoid the media. Not purposely, but just because, media and fans -- no disrespect -- they just bring noise. They bring questions. They bring awareness: 'Oh, do you know you're doing this or do you know you're doing that?' ... Dude, let's just play. Obviously, they just want the story and the fans want to talk about it. But for me, I try to stay in my little bubble and keep grinding, keep working hard, keep preparing myself every single day and not worry about anything else. Because all that stuff can only hurt you, really.''

Instead, Martinez prefers to spend his time on "the process.''  There's physical work to be done in the trainer's room, with an extensive stretching program and massage. Beyond getting his body ready, there's homework to do: watching video of past at-bats, studying that night's starting pitcher, examining his swing from video taken during batting practice and reviewing his own notes from his notebook.

"It gives me something to do,'' said Martinez, "and allows me to not get caught up in all the other stuff.''

Martinez is living in a suburb west of Boston and has managed to avoid the limelight away from the ballpark.

"I just go home, go to bed, wake up and come back and do the same thing,'' he said. "In the season, I'm weird — I'm just a homebody. This game is too demanding. It's a dream, it's a great game, I wouldn't trade it for anything. But you sacrifice so much time. But if you want to be competitive in this league, you have to sacrifice and put your work in. I really don't go out or do anything, really.

"I just come in, do my work, study, try to help us win, try to figure out ways I can get better.''

And, he might have added, avoid the noise.