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Russell Martin

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Russell Nathan Coltrane Jeanson-Martin

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[edit] Biographical Information

Russell Martin was born in the Toronto, ON area but grew up all over the place, including Chelsea, QC, Winnipeg, MB, Paris, France, and eventually Montreal, QC where he attended the same high school as future teammate Eric Gagné. His father was an English-speaking jazz musician (hence the name Coltrane, after jazz great John Coltrane), and his mother was French speaking (Jeanson is her last name and Martin's legal last name is Jeanson-Martin); he did his schooling in French, until moving to the US to attend junior college and play baseball.

In the 2000 World Junior Championship, Martin hit .414/?/.690 for Canada with 12 runs, possibly tying Tae-kyun Kim for the lead. His 12 RBI were possibly second to Joe Mauer. He played third base for Team Canada. Scott Wearne of Australia made the All-Tournament team instead of Martin.

After completing junior college, Russell Martin planned to go to North Carolina State University but was drafted in the 17th round of the 2002 amateur draft by the Los Angeles Dodgers. He was signed by scout Clarence Johns for $40,000. A second baseman until then, he was converted to third base for the 2002 GCL Dodgers and hit .286/.357/.412 with 7 steals in 8 tries. In 2003, he batted .286/.343/.439 for the South Georgia Waves and .271/.368/.436 with the Ogden Raptors while finding yet another position at catcher. He led Pioneer League catchers in both assists (63) and passed balls (27).

In 2004, Martin returned to Vero Beach, FL, where the GCL Dodgers had played in 2002. He hit .250/.366/.421 with 15 homers for the Class A Vero Beach Dodgers and joined Eliezer Alfonzo as the Florida State League All-star backstops. In 2005, Martin batted .311/.430/.423 for the AA Jacksonville Suns. Baseball America rated him the best defensive catcher in the Southern League and said he had the best strike zone judgement in the circuit, which he led in putouts (960), assists (90) and errors (12). He made the SL All-Star team at catcher and was third in the league in batting average. He was ranked the #10 prospect in the league by BA and was 0 for 1 as a backup in the Futures Game that year.

Hitting .297/.389/.419 in 23 games for the Las Vegas 51s, Martin was called up in early May to Los Angeles and had a fine rookie campaign, establishing himself as the team's starting catcher with a line of .282/.355/.436 in 121 games. He hit 10 home runs and stole 10 bases, a rare combination for a catcher. He started all three games of the NLDS against the New York Mets and went 4 for 12. In the second inning of Game 1 on October 5, he hit a single off the right field wall with Jeff Kent on second and J.D. Drew on first, but both runners were thrown out at home on the same play in what was a crucial turning point in the Series.

In 2007, Martin continued where he left off the previous season, establishing himself as the Dodgers' best all-around player and the top young catcher in the Majors. He was voted to start the All-Star Game, beating out Paul LoDuca and Brian McCann. He hit .293 for the year, with 19 homers and 89 RBI. He was awarded a Gold Glove as the LNational League's best defensive catcher, and the Silver Slugger Award as its best hitter at the position. In 2008, he hit .280 with 87 runs scored and 69 RBI as the Dodgers went all the way to the NLCS, only to be beaten by the eventual world champions, the Philadelphia Phillies. He was the team's top hitter in the NLDS, driving in 5 runs on 3 doubles and a homer in a sweep of the Chicago Cubs, but was only 2 for 17 in the NLCS.

Martin was the starting catcher for Team Canada in the 2009 World Baseball Classic. He went 2 for 4 with a home run and 3 runs scored in the opening game against Team USA. He wore the name J. Martin on his jersey, to reflect his full name, and has continued this practice with the Dodgers for the 2009 season. His numbers fell significantly, however, as he batted only .250 with 7 homers and 50 RBI in 143 games. The Dodgers made it back to the NLCS that year, being once again eliminated by the Phillies, but he was only 5 for 25 with 3 RBI in two rounds of postseason play.

Martin was placed on the disabled list for the first time in his career on August 4, 2010, the result of tearing a hip muscle while landing awkwardly in attempting to score on a sacrifice fly the day before. The injury put an end to a very disappointing season, in which he hit only .248 in 97 games with 5 home runs and a mere 26 RBI. On December 3, the Dodgers declined to offer him arbitration, based on concern about his falling production and the risk of his not being able to recover fully from the hip injury, making the catcher a free agent. This came a few days after the Dodgers had signed veteran backstop Rod Barajas, brought over in a trade to fill in during Martin's injury, to a free agent deal based on Barajas being the starting catcher in 2011. The team said however it was willing to bring Martin back at a lower salary and as a utility player who would be a back-up at third base and in the outfield, but he declined, signing instead with the New York Yankees with a chance to compete to be Jorge Posada's successor behind the plate.

Martin earned the job as the Yankees' starting catcher in spring training of 2011, then had a great start as the team's new backstop. On Opening Day, March 31, he scored twice and stole a base in a 6-3 win over the Detroit Tigers, then in his second game on April 2, he hit a three-run homer. He completed his first series with a 3 for 4 performance, including a double, on April 3. On April 9, he had a two-homer game at Fenway Park, driving in 4 runs and propelling the Yankees to a 9-4 win over the Boston Red Sox, on his way to an outstanding month of April. He played almost every day in the first month with back-up Francisco Cervelli injured, and continued to do so into May. The strain of catching every day began to show, as his batting average fell, then in early June, he had to miss four straight games with a stiff back. Still, he was named to the All-Star team as the American League's third catcher. On August 25th, he had a career day at the plate, going 5 for 5 with a walk, two singles, a double and two homers and driving in 6 runs against the Oakland Athletics. His second home was a grand slam, the Yankees' second of the game after Robinson Cano had hit one earlier. Curtis Granderson belted a third grand slam later in the game as the Yankees became the first major league to hit three slams in one game on their way to thumping the A's, 22-9. In another date with history, he was behind the plate when Mariano Rivera broke the all-time save record on September 19th. He finished the season with a .237 average in 125 games, but with 18 homers and 65 RBI from the 8th and 9th spot of the line-up. In the ALDS however, he was completely muzzled by the Detroit Tigers, going 3 for 17.

Martin was back as the Yankees' starting catcher at the start of 2012, his position more secure as they had traded top prospect Jesus Montero in return for some pitching in the off-season. He opened the year in a deep slump however, and was only hitting .125 when he hit his first homer of the season. He picked an appropriately dramatic moment, the 100th anniversary of the opening of Fenway Park on April 20th, to hit a 6th-inning solo blast off Clay Buchholz that cleared the Green Monster.

Sources include 2003-2006 Baseball Almanacs

[edit] Notable Achievements

[edit] Further Reading

  • Stephanie Myles: "World citizen, Old Montreal resident", Montreal Gazette, March 30, 2009 link

[edit] Related Sites

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