For all his accolades—a World Series ring, three Silver Slugger Awards, three All-Star appearances—J.D. Martinez has never come close to winning MVP with his best finish coming in 2018 (fourth). Despite an offensive resurgence (.302/.366/.542 batting line with 15 homers and 51 RBI), the Red Sox veteran probably won’t win it this year, either. Martinez seems to be at peace with that knowledge, endorsing Angels slugger Shohei Ohtani—MLB’s current home run leader with 28 long balls—as his choice for AL MVP.
“If this guy comes out and hits .270 with 30 home runs and wins 12 games, he has to be your MVP,” Martinez expressed to Tom Westerholm of Boston.com. “What other player is more valuable than that, right? To be able to do it on both sides is unbelievable.”
The scorching-hot Ohtani has homered in four of his last five appearances, leaving the yard twice Tuesday at Yankee Stadium. The Japanese prodigy has also impressed on the mound this season, pitching to a 2.58 ERA with a 12.44 K/9 across 59 1/3 innings. Martinez trails Ohtani in American League All-Star voting and admits he’s probably playing for second place. “I don’t think there’s much of a race right now,” said Martinez, who along with Ohtani and former Rookie of the Year Yordan Alvarez, was named one of three AL finalists at designated hitter. “I’m waving at him.”
With Ohtani dominating the headlines—and deservedly so—Martinez can’t help feeling a little bad for Vlad Guerrero Jr., who has arguably been just as good while receiving only a fraction of the fanfare. “He’s having an unbelievable season this year and it’s kind of getting [overshadowed] by Ohtani,” said Martinez of the perennially overlooked Blue Jays phenom, who leads the majors in both batting average (.344) and RBI (66). “It’s just unreal.”
Ohtani may be having a better year individually, though Martinez’s Red Sox, owners of the majors’ second-best record at 49-31, are having a much better go of it than the Angels, who have largely struggled in Mike Trout’s absence (fourth place in the AL West).
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