A Look at How JD Martinez Broke Out for the Detroit Tigers | Stat Stories

JD Martinez was released by the Houston Astros prior to the 2014 season. In other words, he was cut from a team that had lost 111 games the previous season. He would join the Detroit Tigers and became a surprise star for a division winning team. So what changed for him? In this video I look at Martinez and his relationship with Craig Wallenbrock and Robert Van Scoyoc. These were two hitting instructors who had no professional baseball experience, but they revitalized the career of Martinez with instruction that was unorthodox at the time. Instead of focusing on line drives, Martinez would try to elevate the ball and maximize his power. This focus on launch angle has become a big part of hitting philosophies now, but wasn't popular at the time. Martinez would swing and miss more often, but was still able to drive the ball to all parts of the field, and make more quality contact instead of just putting the ball in play. He remains a quality hitter to this day, and that earned him a massive contract from the Boston Red Sox in 2018. And Van Scoyoc benefited too, as he was named as hitting coach for the Los Angeles Dodgers prior to the 2019 season. Picture credits are given when necessary and intended for commentary, criticism, and educational purposes under fair use. Shoutout to Lorenzo for the help with research! The Stark Raving Sports video:    • JT Realmuto May Be the Best Catcher in Bas...   The Game Domain podcast video:    • DomainCast #17 - Outta Here Baseball   Outta Here Baseball is a partner of Unhinged Media and Grunt Talks MLB https://unhingedyankees.com/ https://grunttalksmlb.com/ Music: Dulled- Videoscribe Audio Library Twitter:   / outtaherebball   Facebook:   / outta-here-baseball   Be sure to subscribe to Outta Here Baseball for more content.