Martin quietly arrived on the scene and simply did his part as the Yankee backstop. Yankee camp was filled with stories surrounding Jorge Posada becoming the full-time designated hitter, the Yankee rotation and whether or not young pitchers like Manny Banuelos were ready to slide in and help the shaky pitching staff. This kept all the attention off of Martin, who was now squatting in a position where Yankee fans aren't relatively familiar with seeing a change of face
Martin started the season strong at the plate and was quietly getting the "weak" Yankee pitching staff through games. He was given the tall task of straightening out AJ Burnett and blocking his 85 mph "hooks" that dive through the strike zone and into the ground. He was selected to his third All-Star game and was on the other end of a historic milestone, Mariano Rivera's 602 career save, the most all-time. Martin struggled towards the end of the season, specifically at the plate, including in the playoffs.
With one full season in the books for Martin as a Yankee, and one that was not plagued by injuries, Martin is looking to head into the 2012 season stronger than ever. He believes that an off-season workout training program that worked his lower half of his body, something that couldn't be done last off-season due to knee and hip injuries, will prepare him to perform at a higher level. I have been a fan of Martin's since he arrived in New York because of how hard he works off the field and behind the plate. If you follow Martin on Twitter, he often posts pictures and videos of his workouts. He is passionate about his job and he is determined to perform here in New York. Two key traits to have in order to be succesful.
Mark Feinsand has obviously been in contact with Martin to write a piece like this and has followed his off-season workouts. Perhaps he reached out to Martin's trainers, as well as Yankee strength and conditioning coaches to gauge Martin's progress health-wise. Stories like these are very interesting as you get a behind-the-scenes look at what players do to prepare themselves for a grueling baseball season.
http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/yankees/2012/02/healthy-russell-martin-im-coming-ready-this-year
Very interesting blog post, John. I liked that you referenced Martin's twitter feed to further back up your point about his workouts. That's being resourceful!
ReplyDeleteYea his twitter is pretty cool. Reading the story just reminds me of the book we're reading for class.......hope he's not anything like some of those guys lol.
ReplyDeleteHe's a heck of a baseball player though, and makes sense that he should be even better this year than last year given the absence of injury and more time to work on his game.
His contributions will definitely be needed so he needs to come through!