Martinez Handling Tribe-To-Hub Transition Well

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Aug 13, 2009

There are easier ways to spend the latter part of your eighth major league season than to be traded from the team that signed you as a 17-year-old and leaving behind all that is familiar to join a new team in the heat of a pennant race.

“It’s been kind of crazy,” said catcher Victor Martinez, acquired by the Red Sox at the July 31 trading deadline from the Indians.  “But these guys, they’ve been making things easier for me. They really give me a great welcome here, and that makes me feel more comfortable in the clubhouse and on the field. I really appreciate that.”

Getting used to a new pitching staff, including knuckleballer Tim Wakefield, is another in the Martinez’s list of recent adjustments.

“I think I just get to know them and talk to them and talk about what they like to do in certain situations, and that makes my job a little easier to call a game for them,” Martinez said.

Martinez knows it will be a learning process for himself as well as his new teammates, especially the pitchers who are throwing at a new target.

“I think he’s been really good. He’s been real active, and by that I mean trying hard to be real vocal and real energetic and partner up with the pitchers,” said Sox manager Terry Francona.  “I think everybody he’s caught has been really pleased. It’s not the easiest thing in the world. He may have faced some of these guys, but he’s never caught them. He’s done a really good job of acclimating himself and listening to [pitching coach] John Farrell. This is a veteran guy in the league, but it’s still a new staff, and he’s done a really good job. He’s talked to [Jason Varitek] a lot. It’s been a good transition.”

Sox bullpen coach Gary Tuck, who knew Martinez from their time together in the Cleveland organization, has been waiting for the chance to work with the 30-year-old backstop.

“It is a total learn-on-the-job [process] every single day — new pitchers, new situations, new teammates — and he’s grasped it and done great,” Tuck said.   “It’s been exciting having him here. The transition is very hard, except he’s a highly intelligent person, and where most people watch the game and play the game, Victor plays it and sees the game. He has this inner feel for the game which is very special. It makes him special.

“He sees what’s going on," he added. "He’s a great leader.  He has a feel for where the hitters are. Once he gets to know our staff real well, there’s  a feel for where the hitters are with their swings, what the situations are, and what the strengths and weaknesses are of the pitcher at that time, and pitching according to the game. He’s not afraid to gamble. He’s creative back there. He reminds me of years ago when I started with [Yankees catcher] Jorge Posada when he was a young kid coming up. [Martinez is] creative back there. It’s not programmed. He stays with the scouting report, but he’s also not afraid to change things up, which changes, obviously, the hitters’ approach.”

Martinez, who had two of the Sox’ four hits in Thursday’s 2-0 loss to the Tigers, has reached base safely in eight of his 11 games with the Sox, going 14-for-48 (.297) with two home runs and eight RBIs in that span. He has made four starts at catcher and seven at first base for the Sox. A three-time All-Star, the switch-hitter was tied for 10th in the American League with 75 RBIs entering Thursday.

“He stays in the middle of the field really well,” Francona said of his hitting style.   “I don’t know if Fenway left-handed will help him. I think he’s a good hitter, [but] this place might cost him a few home runs. I think his ability to stay in the gaps makes him a good hitter everywhere. He’ll probably have more doubles, maybe a few less homers if he plays here enough.”

One thing he has yet to do in his career is catch a knuckleball pitcher.

“He caught two knuckleballs in the All-Star Game, which Wakefield threw him just warming up.  But other than that, nope,” Tuck said.  “It’ll be his first time in a game but his abilities will take of it.”

Although Wakefield has been on the disabled list with a strained lower back prior to Martinez’s arrival, the veteran pitcher is scheduled to make a rehab start Saturday for Triple-A Pawtucket, clearing the way for a return to the rotation.

Tuck is not concerned about his new catcher’s ability to make this adjustment. He and Wakefield have been working with Martinez in the bullpen to prepare for the day the pitcher and catcher will be batterymates in a game.

“Dougie [Mirabelli] had his own style, and Kevin [Cash] and Georgie [Kottaras],” Tuck said of the teams' recent knuckleball catchers. “What I did with them is what I’m doing with Victor. There will be some bumps in the road, but he’ll get it because he’s got tremendous hands, tremendous athletic ability and he trusts me. He’s going to catch the [knuckleball-pitching] machine every day. For a guy that’s playing every day, first base, catch, DH, whatever he’s doing, it’s one of the first times he's every worked every single day, too, which is exciting for me because I think he’s going to be something special behind there.”

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