The Cleveland Guardians were able to win their third straight AL Central crown and advance to the AL Championship Series in large part because some of their young players arrived and established themselves as contributors. Travis Bazzana made the All-Star team, Parker Messick is flirting with a major rookie award, Chase DeLauter carried the team in the regular season and the playoffs, and so on.
Additionally, they also benefited from Angel Martinez’s breakout campaign. After years of mediocre performances, Martinez finally took a step forward and hit .254/.290/.465 with 18 home runs, 62 RBI, 11 stolen bases, and a 108 wRC+. He actually led the Guardians in home runs.
Martinez is capable of playing all three outfield positions, has power and speed, and can also serve as an emergency second baseman, even though he didn’t play the position this year. There’s plenty of value in a player like that.
However, he also has some clear shortcomings as a ballplayer. The dynamic and versatile 24-year-old is allergic to walks, as he finished the regular season with a 3.1 percent walk rate. This makes him very streaky, because he tends to expand the zone a lot.
His awful chase rates were his own enemy in the postseason, where the superior pitching dominated him and limited him to a .095 batting average in 23 plate appearances despite big expectations. With this in mind, it’s fair to ask what his role will be in 2027.
Will Martinez be an unquestioned starter? Will he be in the strong side of a platoon? Will he be pushed down the pecking order if or when the Guardians acquire another option for the outfield? Nobody knows the questions to these answers, but they are all plausible scenarios.
We guess that Cleveland will actively try to upgrade Martinez’s spot. If a relevant player lands on the team, he might have to share playing time or bounce around the diamond, but if nobody comes, he will likely be given an extended chance to improve his shortcomings or fail in the process. In any case, he can contribute even at his current level.
Martinez might not be a star unless he dramatically improves his plate discipline. He is, however, a steady contributor on a team capable of going far every year.
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