J.D. Martinez is in the midst of a dominant first season with the Boston Red Sox.
The slugging outfielder hasn’t completely avoided criticism from fans at Fenway Park, however.
Martinez is far better at the plate than he is in the field, even though he’s committed zero errors this season. And in a recent interview with the Boston Sports Journal’s Sean McAdam, Martinez revealed some Red Sox fans have given him an earful when he’s in left field.
“I’ve been booed,” he told McAdam. “They’ve been talking crap to me in the outfield, here, in left field. I just laugh about it. I’m like, ‘You guys are clueless.’ The kind of stuff they yell, it’s like, ‘What are you even saying right now?’ It’s part of it. The fans are passionate. It’s cool.
“I get so locked in and I’m so focused on what I’m doing that I really don’t pay attention to it.”
When asked to cite a specific example, 30-year-old recalled an instance earlier this season when he misplayed a ball hit by Baltimore Orioles first baseman Chris Davis, allowing it to fall in front of him for a single.
“It was, ‘You’ve got to dive … You’re lazy … You’re a DH … Why are you in the outfield? … You shouldn’t be out here … You should just go in and hit …’ ” Martinez said with a laugh, per McAdam. “I’m like, ‘Oh my God.’ You hear all kinds of crap.
“But whatever. I don’t care about that. That’s all negative noise.”
At the end of the day, few players (if any) are immune to criticism from home fans, especially in Boston. Still, the Fenway faithful has had plenty of reasons to applaud Martinez, who’s hitting .343 with 15 homers and 41 RBIs through 46 games.
