The hitting prowess displayed by J.D. Martinez so far in his Red Sox career has probably been even better than the team expected when it signed him to a five-year, $110-million contract.
He launched his league-leading 21st home run in the fifth inning on Saturday to give the Sox their margin of victory in a 4-2 win over the White Sox. The two-run shot into the bullpen in right-center gave Martinez 54 RBI, which also leads MLB.
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By the way, when Martinez really drives one of these balls, the sound he produces with his hickory bat is just ungodly. It's one of those noises that makes you snap your neck around because it's just not normal.
And the discipline and intelligence he hits with — it's been well-documented to this point how much Martinez studies (the notebook he carries everywhere) and works between at-bats (cuts in the cage) — is also not of this normal baseball world. In that fifth-inning at-bat, Chicago starter Carlos Rodon threw a 95-mph fastball down and in for a strike. On the next pitch, Rodon threw an 85-mph changeup up and away. To hit the ball as hard as Martinez did (102-mph exit velocity) to the opposite field is just, well, Manny Ramirez-esque.
Speaking of the former left fielder, Martinez became the first Sox hitter since Ramirez in 2001 to post 21 dingers through 65 team games. In fact, Ramirez and David Ortiz (three times) are the only Red Sox to post 21 home runs by the end of June since 2001.
Martinez is also on pace for 135 RBI and 52 home runs. Ortiz had the club record with 54 (2006).
"He can get hotter," said starter David Price, who was a teammate in Detroit.
All that is certainly impressive, and is a feather in the cap of Dave Dombrowski for picking Martinez, instead of, perhaps, trading for Giancarlo Stanton.
But Martinez's hitting might not be his last impact: Martinez is filling a leadership void when it comes to some of the Sox' young players.
"The cool thing about these past few weeks is he’s taking charge, helping a lot of the guys in there," said Alex Cora. "I hope they’re patient. They might not see results right away, but when they click, they’re going to see it.
"I saw him working, helping out (Rafael Devers). There's no language barrier there. He's becoming a leader. That comes with the territory. We signed this guy to do what he’s doing offensively, but there’s other stuff that comes when you sign a contract like that, and he’s doing it."
That there is the secret sauce.
Anyone who has watched this team A.P. — After Papi — knows the Sox have been missing something that you can't quantify. Somebody has to be the straw that stirs the drink, and for all of Dustin Pedroia's strengths, leading a clubhouse full of 20-somethings has not been one.
Enter Martinez.
"This is a young clubhouse as far as lineup-wise, a lot of young guys that are just trying to find their way and figure out what works for them," Martinez said. "I didn’t have that when I was in Houston, a guy I could lean on and ask questions and kind of talk me off a ledge a little bit. I try to do that with some of the guys in here."
The stroke is compact and sure. The eyes are trained in and between at-bats. The mind might be the best in the game. His power might be better than advertised.
All of this reminded me of Sean McAdam's season preview where a scout talked so glowingly about Martinez that I thought McAdam might have been talking to a family member of the DH.
But the scout could not have been more right, in every respect.
“I don’t say this lightly — I think he’s the best hitter in the game. He’s so smart and so well-prepared. He may lose some homers in Fenway (because of his tendency to hit the ball to right center), but he’ll do plenty of damage and his preparation will rub off on some others in the lineup.”