On July 19th, the Detroit Tigers traded former All-Star J.D. Martinez to the Arizona Diamondbacks for three prospect infielders, Dawel Lugo, Sergio Alcantara and Jose King.

Background

The former 20th round pick by the Houston Astros has palpably out performed expectations. During his first three years in Houston, his per 162 game average was .251, 15 home runs and 81 RBI.

In his four seasons in Detroit, Martinez batted .300, while averaging 35 home runs and 100 RBI per 162 games. The 29-year-old is currently batting .302 with 16 home runs, 38 runs scored and 39 RBI in 58 games played.

Since teaming up in Detroit with first ballot Hall of Famer Miguel Cabrera, as well as All-Stars Victor Martinez, Justin Upton and Ian Kinsler, Martinez has reinvented himself as a player. He exclaims that “[he] learned so much just from watching them and picking their brains, and it really did help,” (Anthony Fenech, Detroit Free Press). The largest analytical change with Martinez was his increased hard contact rates

Now on the move to Arizona, Martinez will become one of the veterans in the group. His offensive production will be vital to the Diamondbacks success, as even though they are already an elite offense, they are in the only division in which three teams have over a 57 percent winning percentage.

Impact of the NL West

A move to the National League West will be beneficial to Martinez due to Park Factors. “Park Factor(s) compare the rate of stats at home vs. the rate of stats on the road. A rate higher than 1.000 favors the hitter. Below 1.000 favors the pitcher” (ESPN).

His new home ball park of Chase Field ranks second in runs with 1.202 and third in home runs with 1.306, which favors heavily him compared to his former home stadium, Comerica Park which ranks 12th and 10th respectively, which only favored him slightly.

Other parks in the NL West that will benefit Martinez’s production include Coors Field, which ranks first in runs and third in home runs, and Dodgers Stadium, which ranks 15th in runs and 11th in home runs.

One negative when it comes to the move to the NL West is that he will need to play six games in San Francisco and three in San Diego, as their ball parks rank both rank heavily in the pitchers’ favor in terms of runs and home runs.

Also, Martinez will inevitably face superstars Clayton Kershaw and Madison Bumgarner, although he is batting .293 on the career and .474 this season against south paws.

Impact of the Diamondbacks’ lineup

Martinez will go from the 11th most productive offense in the MLB to the sixth, which should boost his counting stats a bit. He will slide into the five spot in the lineup behind MVP candidate Paul Goldschmidt and budding stars Jake Lamb, A.J. Pollock and David Peralta.

Martinez’s RBI production is sure to skyrocket as each of the aforementioned players are batting above .275 with an on-base percentage of at least .340 this season.

Injury history

Currently, Martinez is suffering from a hand contusion after being hit by a pitch. He is listed on the injury report as day-to-day, as they expect him to return to action during the weekend of July 22. So far in 2017 alone, Martinez has also suffered foot and back injuries, although when healthy, he is clearly an All-Star caliber player.

He has only totaled 125 games or more in one season, which he played in 158 games and was voted an Al-Star and Silver Slugger, while finishing 15th in the AL MVP vote.

Long-term fantasy impact

The long-term fantasy impact for Martinez is trending upward. He is on the final leg of his two-year, $18.5 million contract, and if he were to resign with Arizona, he is sure to be a top-10 outfielder. He will continue to offer elite four-category contributions in batting average, home runs, runs and RBIs.

If he were to sign elsewhere, he would remain an elite fantasy option, although being in Arizona elevates his fantasy ceiling to new heights.

Featured image by MLive.com

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