CLEVELAND, Ohio — Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said sometimes it takes a little bit of success for a young player to go from wide-eyed and just happy to be here to somebody who knows what he needs to do in order to help the team win. Right now, Angel Martínez is the living embodiment of those words on the field.
“For Angel, it was kind of an up and down, up and down,” Vogt said. “You’d have some good stretches, but he’s really been very consistent over the last month and obviously the last 10 days have been even better for him.”
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Regular playing time has helped Martínez, according to Vogt.
“It’s hard to take him out of the lineup right now,” Vogt said. “The way he’s just attacking everything, he’s working defensively at both positions still. And I can’t speak enough about how much he’s been working.”
The results speak for themselves. Martínez has seven doubles and four home runs in his last 11 games since July 6. His 11 extra-base hits in that span are tied with Philadelphia’s Bryce Harper for the second most in the majors, behind only American League Player of the Week Nick Kurtz of the Athletics.
Those 11 extra-base hits account for more than 78% of his total hits in that span, trailing only teammate José Ramírez who has seen eight of his 10 hits go for extra bases (80%) in that time.
David Fry praised Martínez for his ability to step into Steven Kwan’s leadoff spot for three games while Kwan was down with wrist soreness.
“It’s not an easy role to step into and he’s a young dude with a lot of confidence,” Fry said. “He puts together really good at-bats. It’s not always the prettiest thing, but man, he does everything. He plays, defense, runs the bases, and then when he gets a good pitch, he runs into and hits it really hard.”
Martínez credited his recent success to a change in his mental approach to each at-bat.
“It’s just a combination of things,” he said via Guardians interpreter Agustin Rivero. “Conversations that I have with my support system and my family and my teammates as well have allowed me to be where I’m at right now.”
Two of Martínez’s hits on Sunday came while batting left-handed against the Athletics, a sign that Vogt said means Martinez is feeling confident on both sides of the plate.
“The single was probably one of my favorite at-bats he’s ever had left-handed. He was ready to jump the fastball and didn’t try and do too much. You can definitely see the maturation right in front of our eyes.”
All roads lead back to Cleveland
Orioles interim manager Tony Mansolino spent 10 years as a manager and coach in the Cleveland organization after a six-year minor league playing career. He guided Triple-A Columbus to an International League title in 2019 and was named Carolina League Manager of the Year with the Lynchburg Hillcats in 2017.
Baltimore hired Mansolino as a major league third base coach after the 2020 season. He took over as skipper when Brandon Hyde was fired in mid-May and has posted a 28-23 record in the interim role.
“I have nothing but special memories of the Guardians organization,” Mansolino told reporters prior to Monday’s series opener at Progressive Field. ”I didn’t play here, but Ross Atkins hired me and gave me a shot. I’ll always be grateful for that. There are a lot of special people in player development here.”
Calling Lake County
Shane Bieber is set to make his next rehab start Tuesday with the Captains in Lake County, but in the meantime the Guardians — particularly Cleveland’s young pitchers — are happy just to have the veteran righty back around their clubhouse.
“It gives you someone to bounce ideas off of,” Vogt said. “Bounce thoughts, experiences, things that they’re having a question about in a certain count or a certain situation. Anytime you have someone like Shane Bieber in your clubhouse, you get better and he’s such a good teammate, he cares about the guys so much and he just brings energy just by having him and him around.”
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Vogt said it’s hard not to get excited about the progress Bieber is making in his return from Tommy John surgery.
“Any time he’s throwing in real games, you’re on a progression. So, it’s exciting,” Vogt said. “We take it one day at a time with all of our rehab guys, especially coming back from UCL surgery. For Shane, it’s check the box today and then go get it tomorrow.”
