Ángel Martínez (born January 27, 2002) is a Dominican professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

infielder An infielder is a baseball player stationed at one of four defensive "infield" positions on the baseball field, between first base and third base. Standard arrangement of positions In a game of baseball, two teams of nine players take turns pla ...

for the

Cleveland Guardians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. Since , the team has played its home gam ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

(MLB).

Professional career

Martínez signed with the

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. Since , the team ...

as an international free agent on July 2, 2018. He made his professional debut in 2019 with the Dominican Summer League Indians, hitting .306/.402/.428 with one home run, 27 RBI, and 11 stolen bases. Martínez did not play in a game in 2020 due to the cancellation of the

Minor League Baseball Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National Le ...

season because of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Martínez returned to action in 2021 with the

Single-A Single-A, formerly known as Class A and sometimes as Low-A, is the fourth-highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States, below Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A, Double-A (baseball), Double-A, and High-A. There are 30 teams cl ...

Lynchburg Hillcats The Lynchburg Hillcats are a Minor League Baseball team in Lynchburg, Virginia that plays in the Carolina League and is the Single-A affiliate of the Cleveland Guardians. They were a farm team of the Atlanta Braves from 2011 to 2014, the Cincinn ...

, playing in 97 games and slashing .241/.319/.382 with seven home runs, 46 RBI, and 13 stolen bases. He split the 2022 campaign between the

High-A High-A, officially Class High-A, formerly known as Class A-Advanced, and sometimes abbreviated "A+" in writing, is the third-highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States and Canada, below Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A and D ...

Lake County Captains The Lake County Captains are a Minor League Baseball team in Eastlake, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland, that plays in the Midwest League as the High-A affiliate of the Cleveland Guardians. The Captains joined the Class A Midwest League following ...

and Double–A

Akron RubberDucks The Akron RubberDucks are a Minor League Baseball team based in Akron, Ohio. The team, which plays in the Eastern League (1938–present), Eastern League, is the Double-A affiliate of the Cleveland Guardians. They play in Canal Park (Akron, Ohio) ...

. In 102 games split between the two affiliates, Martínez accumulated a .278/.378/.471 batting line with 13 home runs, 44 RBI, and 12 stolen bases. On November 15, 2022, the Guardians added Martínez to their

40-man roster A Major League Baseball roster is a list of players who are allowed, by league agreement, to play for a Major League Baseball (MLB) team. Each MLB team maintains two rosters: an active roster of players eligible to participate in an MLB game, an ...

to protect him from the

Rule 5 draft The Rule 5 draft is a Major League Baseball (MLB) player draft that occurs each year in December, at the annual Winter Meeting of general managers. The Rule 5 draft aims to prevent teams from stockpiling too many young players on their minor lea ...

. Martínez was optioned to the Triple-A

Columbus Clippers The Columbus Clippers are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League (IL) and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Cleveland Guardians. They are located in Columbus, Ohio, and are named for speedy Merchant ship, merch ...

to begin the 2023 season. In 136 games split between the Akron and Columbus, he hit a combined .251/.321/.394 with 14 home runs, 79 RBI, and 11 stolen bases. Martínez began the 2024 season on the major league 10-day injured list after suffering a foot contusion in spring training. He was transferred to the 60-day injured list on April 17, 2024, after it was announced he would undergo surgery to repair a

hamate The hamate bone (from Latin language, Latin wiktionary:hamatus, hamatus, "hooked"), or unciform bone (from Latin language, Latin ''wikt:uncus, uncus'', "hook"), Latin os hamatum and occasionally abbreviated as just hamatum, is a bone in the huma ...

fracture in his right wrist. On May 29, Martínez was activated from the injured list and optioned to Triple-A Columbus. On June 21, Martínez was promoted to the major leagues for the first time. In 43 appearances during his rookie campaign, Martínez batted .232/.298/.338 with three home runs, 11 RBI, and three stolen bases. Martínez was optioned to Triple-A Columbus to begin the 2025 season.

Personal life

His father,

Sandy Martínez Angel Sandy Martínez Martínez (born October 8, 1970) is a Dominican former professional baseball player, and current Manager for the DSL Nationals. He played as a catcher in Major League Baseball for the Toronto Blue Jays (-), Chicago Cubs (- ...

, played in MLB from 1995 to 2004, for 6 different teams. His cousin,

Michael Martínez Michael Martínez may refer to: * Michael Martinez (Tolkien scholar), American author and Tolkien scholar * Michael Martínez (baseball) (born 1982), Dominican baseball player * Michael Christian Martinez (born 1996), Filipino Olympic figure ska ...

, played in MLB from 2011 to 2017, including parts of 3 seasons with Cleveland, and currently plays for the

High Point Rockers The High Point Rockers are an American professional minor-league baseball team based at Truist Point ballpark in High Point, North Carolina, which is part of the Piedmont Triad region. They are members of the South Division of the Atlantic League ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Martínez, Ángel 2002 births Living people Akron RubberDucks players Arizona Complex League Guardians players Baseball players from Santo Domingo Cleveland Guardians players Columbus Clippers players Dominican Republic expatriate baseball players in the United States Dominican Summer League Indians players Estrellas Orientales players Lake County Captains players Lynchburg Hillcats players Major League Baseball infielders Major League Baseball players from the Dominican Republic 21st-century Dominican Republic sportsmen Peoria Javelinas players