McAdam: After a sensational first season in Boston, what does J.D. Martinez do for an encore?

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Last February, at this time, J.D. Martinez was still unsigned.

His agent, Scott Boras, had predicted a contract in excess of $200 million, yet as teams began their spring training workouts, Martinez was home in Miami, his future undetermined.

What a difference a year can make.

Martinez would eventually sign with the Red Sox, though for a deal which was roughly half of what his agent had forecast. He would make that seem like a bargain when he led all of baseball in RBI and total bases, was second in homers, slugging percentage and OPS.

Now as he begins his second season with the Red Sox, the question needs to be asked: What does Martinez do to top his first?

Even for someone with a relentless work ethic, an unquenchable thirst for knowledge and a drive to always improve, this might prove difficult to answer.

"Personally? I don't know ... I think it's just ...'' he said, fumbling his response a bit. "Me personally, I think that's a tough question. I'd like to maintain my body a little bit better, stay more on it than I usually am. I think last year, I took it for a granted a little bit, where I think this year I've got stay more on top of it.''

In the big picture, when you have to go all the way down the checklist to "maintain my body a little better,'' to find something with which you weren't satisfied, you know it was an otherwise terrific first year in Boston.

(Though on the subject of his health, Martinez revealed that he suffered an oblique strain in late summer which prohibited from being able to fully load his swing and resulted in a power drought that saw him hit just four homers in the span of 35 games from mid-August to late September).

And Martinez's contributions ran far deeper than the numbers. He served as the team's unofficial third hitting coach and helped Mookie Betts blossom at the plate.

"When I first came into spring training, I remember Alex (Cora) kind of guiding me toward Mookie, saying, 'Hey, this is your guy, I want you to take care of him, talk to him," Martinez recalled. "To his credit, Mookie kind of bought in and we both grew with each other. He's a smart kid and he was able to learn a lot of things very quickly. He's a lot like me in the sense that he's a perfectionist.

"Mookie's not the kind of guy who likes to good at something; he likes to be great at everything. He reminds me of myself. I always tell him, 'I see myself in you, kind of.' We both want to have the perfect swing, the perfect plan and go up there and execute it perfectly.''

Perhaps Martinez did his job a little too well with Betts — he helped make him the American League MVP, an award Martinez clearly coveted. He finished fourth in the voting, a slight that seemed to rankle him at least somewhat.

"I kind of laughed about it,'' said Martinez. "Everyone was making a big deal about it, you know, 'You have a chance to win it.' I was like, 'Guys, there's no way that the analytic guys are ever going to let that happen. For a DH to win MVP, you're going to have to walk on water. It's not going to happen.'

"So when it came out, I expected it. I kind of laughed about it. I know how my peers think of me and the text messages I got and the congratulations I got. Last year, I won the Players Choice for MVP of this season and that was huge from my peers.''

But despite his disappointment, Martinez reveled in his role as hitting mentor. He had observed the likes of Miguel Cabrera and Victor Martinez in Detroit, then watched Paul Goldschmidt in his half-season in Arizona.

Arriving here a year ago, Martinez, burnished with new-found confidence in his role as a leader and teacher, found a receptive audience.

"I love to study baseball and I love to share information,'' he said, "and coming here, there was a lot of young talent that wanted information.  So it was almost rewarding to kind of sit here and give them whatever I had that day or whatever piece of information I could give them. It's cool, it's different. I'd never been (that leader) in my career, so it was definitely pretty cool.''

Martinez is settled in for his second season, but as part of his five-year, $110 million deal with the Sox, he had some opt-out clauses written into the contract, the first of which kick in after this season. Martinez can see how the free agent freeze-out has continued for a second straight offseason, but isn't concerned how it will impact him.

"I don't really think it does,'' he said. "Personally, you listen to Scott and his advice. But at the end of the day, I know my value and I know what I bring to the table and I really don't look at that. I kind of judge me on me.''

Another benefit to a second season in Boston is familiarity with the environment. He knows what to expect and how to handle it all.

"Coming in, you hear that (Boston is tough),'' he said. "I'm going to tell you right now,  no one's harder on me than me. The fact that fans sit there and boo me? I'm booing myself when I'm walking in. No one's more pissed than me. so I'm with them. I'm like, 'You should be mad; I'm mad.' So to me, I feel like it's never really bothered me, because honestly, I'm so locked in and I'm so caught up in the process that I don't even worry about the outside noise and stuff like that.

"I love Boston and I love the passion, and it kind of matches my personality. The fans feel like they're just as passionate as me. Obviously, I'd love to stay here, but that's not really what I'm worried about right now.''

He's got other things on which to improve. Eventually, he'll think of something.