| Fernando Martínez | |
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| New York Mets – No. 17 | |
| Outfielder | |
| Born: October 10, 1988 Río San Juan, Dominican Republic |
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| Bats: Left | Throws: Right |
| MLB debut | |
| May 26, 2009, New York Mets | |
| Career statistics (through 2011 season) |
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| Batting average | .183 |
| Home runs | 2 |
| Runs batted in | 12 |
| Teams | |
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Jesús Fernando Martínez Álvarez (born October 10, 1988) is a Dominican professional baseball outfielder for the New York Mets organization, appearing several times in the majors, in center-field.
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Martínez signed with the Mets in July 2005, when he was 16 years old. He bats left-handed and throws right-handed. Mets general manager Omar Minaya, known for his ability to attract Latin American talent to the Mets, lured Martínez with a signing bonus of $1.4 million.[1] Minaya said of the signing "What we saw in [Martinez] was a 16-year-old kid with power, great ability and great character, above everything else.”
Martínez had played center field in the minor leagues since the 2007 season with Double-A Binghamton. He was selected to both the 2007 and 2008 All-Star Futures Games. Martínez is considered by many to be a potential 5-tool player at the major league level.
Baseball America named him as the Mets Number One Prospect for 2007[2] and 2008.[3]
Martinez has seen his status as a blue chip prospect decline in the past two years, due in large part to his frequent stints on the disabled list. For example, Martinez was ranked as the Number 1 prospect in the Mets' organization by Scout.com in 2009 and 2010. In 2011, he was dropped to Number 4. Similarly, ESPN Scout Keith Law ranked Martinez as the Number 10 overall prospect in 2008, and then as the Number 16 overall prospect in 2009, but dropped him to Number 73 overall in 2010. Martinez' prospect status expired after 2010.
After batting .291 with 8 home runs and leading the International League with 25 extra-base hits in 42 games with AAA Buffalo, Martínez was called up to the major leagues on May 26 as José Reyes and Ryan Church were placed on the disabled list.[4] He went 0–3 with 2 strikeouts, a fielder's choice, a hit by pitch, and an RBI. He hit his first career home run against the Brewers on June 30 in a 6–3 loss.
| Preceded by Clayton Kershaw |
Youngest Player in the National League 2009 |
Succeeded by Starlin Castro |
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