Vic Martinez

Cleveland Indian catcher Victor Martinez has turned in another spectacular year. In his second full season (with one game left tomorrow) the twenty-six year old catcher has turned in a .378 OBP, .477 SLG, .895 OPS line. Martinez played in 145 games this season and started 137 behind the dish.

Victor's April and May this season were horrendous. During those first two months Martinez turned in a sub-.300 OBP and sub-.350 SLG. But Martinez, whose impressive full-time debut in 2004 earned him the right to try and get out of his beginning of the year slump, turned in a plus-.400 OBP and plus-.525 SLG the rest of the way. His offensive struggles and then successes mirrored his ballclub's poor start and then their greatly improved play come June.

Martinez took 43% of his plate appearances in the number five slot in the batting order, 35% in the four slot and 21% in the number three slot. Those three lineup slots constituted 99% of his 2005 plate appearances and shows the trust that manager Eric Wedge has in his catcher's hitting ability.