J.D. Martinez is having quite a bit of success in Boston, something that his manager always thought would be the case.
The Red Sox slugger signed during spring training and had plenty of high expectations entering this season. There has been no shortage of cases of players signing big contracts with Boston and not living up to their expectations, but Martinez instead has far exceeded them so far.
For Alex Cora, he knew pretty quickly that the 30-year-old would thrive.
The Sox skipper detailed in a Q&A with The Athletic the moment he knew Martinez would fare just fine.
“When we met in Orlando (during the Winter Meetings),” Cora told Chad Jennings of the moment he knew. “I told Dave (Domebrowski), I said, ‘This guy will be fine.’ He’s passionate about the game, and they love baseball here. The way he talks and what he said (in that meeting), forget the preparation, it’s just how passionate he is about the game. I was like, ‘He’s fine. He’ll be fine.’”
Sure sounds like Cora was spot-on. Martinez has won over Sox fans with his 29 home runs and .329 batting average so far this season.
