The hottest hitter in the Cleveland Guardians lineup right now is not who most people would have predicted at the start of the season, and the numbers over his last five games are the kind that make you stop and look twice.
Guardians Prospective laid out exactly what Angel Martinez has done recently, and the stretch speaks for itself.
“Cleveland Guardians switch-hitting OF Angel Martinez has now homered in four of his last five games. His 9 HRs currently lead the team. Last five games: 7-19 8R 1(2B) 4HR 7RBI 1BB 3SB. AVG .368 OBP .429. 2025: 11 HR / 139 games. 2026: 9 HR / 44 games,” Guardians Prospective wrote.
Cleveland #Guardians switch-hitting OF Angel Martinez has now homered in four of his last five games. His 9 HR's currently lead the team.
Last five games:
7-19 8R 1(2B) 4HR 7RBI 1BB 3SB
AVG .368
OBP .4292025 – 11 HR / 139 games
2026 – 9 HR / 44 games#GuardsBall pic.twitter.com/ah2dvfRZjE— Guardians Prospective (@CleGuardPro) May 17, 2026
Martinez hit 11 home runs across 139 games in 2025. He already has nine through just 44 games in 2026. He is on a pace that would absolutely shatter his previous career high, and the way he is swinging the bat right now suggests the power surge is no fluke.
Martinez is hitting .266 with nine home runs, 24 RBI and eight stolen bases through 143 at-bats in 2026. He carries a .312 on-base percentage, a .510 slugging percentage, an .822 OPS and a 131 OPS+.
To put that career trajectory in sharper perspective, Martinez came into 2026 with a .234 batting average, a .667 OPS and an 86 OPS+ across 740 career at-bats. What he is doing right now is not a continuation of what he has done before. It is a genuine breakout, the kind that tends to happen when a young player puts everything together at the same time.
He is 24 years old, born in Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, and has been with the Cleveland organization since making his big league debut early in 2024.
The Guardians head into a four-game road series against the Detroit Tigers starting Monday night, and if Martinez carries this form into Comerica Park, opposing pitchers are going to have a very difficult time figuring out where to attack a lineup that already has no easy outs from top to bottom.
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