WHY IT'S TIME FOR RUSSELL MARTIN TO EXPLODE

Defensively right now, I love what I see from RussellMartin.  The “Munson-like” catcher is who I need behind the plate in 2012 for my New York Yankees.  I like how he handles his pitchers and I like his passion behind the plate.  That being said, the guy can’t hit a lick and it’s bothering me.

If Martin could hit, we’d definitely see a well rounded catcher.  Look, it’s almost June.  Do we really want a batting average hovering around .180? I know Martin wants to improve, but the question is, how does he fix it?  Sure, immediately I think about Kevin Long and how it’s his job to SEE THE FLAW, FIX THE FLAW as we wrote on BYB just a week ago, but, let's be honest... I don’t see much fixing.  Now, I'm no pro, but normally I can notice if something's off when it comes to strategy at the plate, but  I can’t tell if it’s just a bad slump for Martin or if there is something off with his mechanics that’s slowing him down.  Hopefully Kevin Long can fix that.

Look, in the 2011 season for the Yankees, Russell Martin had these number at this point:  A .253 BA, a slugging percentage of .479 and his OBP you ask? .363.

Right now, in 2012, Martin's average is at .186, his slugging percentage is at .339 and his OBP is .329.  He's down...quite a bit actually. 

We had a piece on BYB just a few weeks ago voicing the same concern that many fans have been having.  Joseph Saucedo wrote WHY MANY WONDER IF SOMETHING'S WRONG WITH MARTIN, you need to check it out.  The difference is, he’s not as concerned as me.  More importantly, what happens if Martin stinks up the joint in 2012? If he can't crack .200 by September, what's to say the Yankees won't want to end their relationship with Martin? Don't forget there was talk of a contract extension (Read HERE)...could a lousy season at the plate put that in jeopardy? Do we sign him long term? Do we attempt to go year to year? How will it work?

Ultimately I have confidence in Martin, but there’s no denying time is ticking and he needs to start rolling. My take is easy, match the hitting with the defense and turn into a better, more well rounded catcher that Yankees could use and want to keep long term. 

No doubt guys like JorgePosada did it well in the Bronx.  Sure, Poe was never the greatest defensive catcher the Yankees ever had, but he did an amazing job for a long time and and his bat rarely suffered. 

Bottom line, I just hope Martin can do the same, we need it... and we need it fast.

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