Red Sox’s Alex Cora Has Hopes For J.D. Martinez Despite Tough Spring

This hasn’t been the most ideal offseason from J.D. Martinez.

The Boston Red Sox star has nine spring training hits in 37 at-bats with two doubles, three RBIs and 13 strikeouts. It comes after a relatively tough 2020 season, too, in which Martinez recorded a .213 average with 27 RBIs.

Red Sox manager Alex Cora, however, remains confident Martinez can find his groove. He was particularly pleased with the two walks he drew in three plate appearances Sunday against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

“One thing I keep telling him, ‘We can work on mechanics and all that, but when you go out there, we have to compete,'” Cora told reporters during his postgame video press conference, as transcribed by MassLive’s Christopher Smith. “And he competes. But at the same time, he wants to clean his swing and work on his thing. At that speed of the game, you can’t do that. It doesn’t matter if it’s February, March or October. When you get into that batter’s box in the big stadium, it’s about competition.

“He competed well yesterday in the last at-bat. He did today. It’s a good sign. But he’s working on a few things. We’ve got plenty of at-bats over the course of the week. There’s B-games against the (Minnesota) Twins. We’ll get him going. He never panics. But I just say, ‘You’ve just got to be ready for April 1. That’s the most important thing.'”

There are nine games left on the Sox’s spring training schedule ahead of Opening Day on April 1 against the Baltimore Orioles at Fenway Park, so Martinez has plenty of time to right the ship. Sunday’s outing certainly was promising, and hopefully he can use it to build some momentum in the coming days.