No one saw more games in centerfield for the Guardians than the 114 Angel Martinez played there – should he get some more chances in 2025?
Angel Martinez has an interesting Baseball Savant page. He does
only four things well – 1. he has above average speed and is a smart baserunner, 2. he doesn’t strike out much, and 3. he has a good arm for a centerfielder. Everything else, to use Savant parlance, is a freezing cold blue. He put up only a 74 wRC+ in 2025 and put up -8 Defensive Runs Saved and -4 Outs Above Average in centerfield.
So, Angel Martinez is just bad, right?
Well, there are some other factors to consider. First of all, Martinez is only 23 years old with only 653 total at-bats in the majors. There is still hope for growth and development. Second, Martinez has a career 121 wRC+ against LHP in the bigs (yikes for the 55 wRC+ against RHP). He has, so far, functioned well as a short-side platoon bat.
One wonders if the Guardians have had any conversations about encouraging Martinez to drop switch-hitting and try hitting from the right-side only. One also wonders if they might ask Martinez to focus strictly on outfield this offseason if his defense might improve with another few months of preparation. One wonders, but that’s about as good as we’ve got right now.
A big question for Martinez at the plate is why it has been so hard for him to get more of his minor league walk-rate to translate. Angel walked just short of 10% of the time in his minor league career, but his career major league walk-rate is only 5.8. If he could simply split the difference between these two numbers, he would enable himself to get more pitches to hit. He doesn’t hit the ball hard at a high rate, but he is able to pull fly balls fairly consistently. His problems mostly revolve around a 40% chase rate and 64% first pitch strike rate. Martinez is down in the count when he steps to the plate about 2-3rds of the time.
It’s a good thing that Martinez has an option remaining because he’s a good player to have around, especially on the Guardians’ lefty-heavy 40-man roster. It would probably not be wise for the Guardians to enter 2026 with Angel as their primary right-handed hitting bench outfielder, to back up presumably Chase DeLauter in center and spell George Valera in right and Steven Kwan in left. They should look to make a move for a more reliable option for that role, but Martinez is a valuable piece to have in case of injury AND in case this young player makes some strides toward growth, primarily in plate discipline and outfield defense.
Finally, I want to mention again that Martinez is a great kid and also kind to fans. He’s also a great bunter, which does come in handy at times, as much as I am reluctant to admit it. Wishing him all the best.
