I never expected to write a serious article about Russell Martin; frankly I barely recall him playing. However, one does not ignore the work of Jay Jaffe and if he says Martin is worthy (comparing him to other long time players who spent years trying to get into the Hall of Fame like Bert Blyleven, Edgar Martinez and Tim Raines): you listen.
I cannot yet say I am convinced. The crux of Jaffe’s case is that Russell Martin is one of the best known pitch framers (we only have data for recent pitchers) and when you consider the pitch framing data, Martin’s fWAR looks as good as consensus Hall of Famer Yadier Molina, and Hall of Famers Joe Mauer & Buster Posey:
I am not, quite, sure I agree with the WAR analysis, and even if I do: I am skeptical Russell Martin will make it to a second ballot. Martin dropping after one shot would be tragic regardless: voters should seriously consider the data.
Was Russell Martin Ever Great?
At first glance it’s hard to justify saying Martin was ever truly great; he did post some solid offensive seasons, and he did win a Gold Glove. In 2007 (OPS+ of 116, .374 OBP & 19 homers with a Gold Glove) & 2015 (when he clubbed 23 homers and played a heck of a catcher) he certainly was, but for the most part Martin was a mediocre hitter. Of Russell’s 14 seasons: only 6 of them were above average offensively, and while I do not doubt Martin being a strong defender: he heavily depends on his framing data to hold up his value.
Looking at Baseball-Reference Martin was most often solid, but not too impressive. Fangraphs thinks he was frequently a star, and occasionally potentially near the best player in baseball. I will not pretend to be an expert in pitch framing, but the idea is that good pitch framers ‘frame’ pitches and get umpires to call balls strikes (as Clevelanders we are familiar with this idea as we saw the Braves get away with it in the 1995 World Series). While it’s almost assuredly something that’s existed for decades: we’ve only been able to measure it since 1993. As a result, we only have data on a handful of Hall of Fame catchers from Carlton Fisk (at the tail end of his career) to Ivan Rodriguez & Mike Piazza.
What they show is that Martin is arguably the best pitch framer in the history we have data for; better than Yadier Molina. While Molina excelled in other defensive ways: Martin’s had the more direct impact on the game.
It’s notable that Martin was not just a great framer, his hitting was also strong. A 101 career OPS+ is not amazing, but it’s solid for a superb defensive player. Consider that Yadier Molina is likely to earn induction into the Hall of Fame and his career OPS+ is 95, and Ivan Rodriguez (already in the Hall of Fame) a 106. So while Martin’s hitting is not enough to elevate him: it’s strong enough to help; consider how good a player Austin Hedges would be (another elite framer) if he could hit even half as well as Russell Martin.
Did Russell Martin have Staying Power?
I will be honest: it takes me a lot of mental willpower to adjust my perspective for catchers. I look at Russell Martin, see the 6,600 plate appearances and 1,400 hits and immediately go “short career” without reflecting on how damn hard playing catcher is on the body. While Martin’s career hitting stats look light, and in comparison to literally any other position: they are light, this is not true for catchers. Russell Martin ranks 27th all time in defensive games played at catcher, and while that’s not a marvelous number it does put his career staying power into perspective. It’s damn hard to remain a full time catcher for years.
In fact, some catchers fall off the position. Salvador Perez, a modern catching iron man, no longer spends full seasons at catcher. Russell Martin effectively spent his entire career as a catcher, and the mileage catches up with you.
Overall, judging Martin by his career statistics feels unfair to me for catchers. The fact that Ivan Rodriguez managed to catch for so long is its own accomplishment. We should next expect catchers to destroy themselves for their entire lives. This is partly why I was so lenient on Joe Mauer (besides Mauer himself being a superb player in his own right).
Was Russell Martin an Inalienable Part of Baseball History?
I got into a slight disagreement with Jay Jaffe on this, but personally: no I don’t think Martin is that big of a part of baseball history. To be clear: this is not entirely Martin’s fault. I think it’s quite plausible that Martin should have been better remembered in his time than he was, but as it stands he falls short on this for me.
To address the elephant in the room: it’s also where I see some daylight between Russell Martin and Yadier Molina. If you look at their defensive value: they’re both pretty similar when you factor in Russell Martin’s elite framing; Yadier got more credit for his brilliance (and all of those Gold Gloves), but the fact of the matter is: Martin probably should have gotten more credit than he deserved. However, I would rank Molina as far more important historically: Molina was a big part of two World Series winning clubs, while Martin never even made it.
This is where Jay and I disagree. Jay points out that Martin was a part of numerous postseason clubs, and was targeted by the Pirates and Blue Jays for his defensive prowess, and it should not fall on Russell Martin that both teams fell short. I think this is fair and true. But I think there’s some daylight between Yadi’s performance in the postseason with Martin’s (Yadi career postseason OPS of .682 to Martin’s .633), and I think Yadi’s big postseason moments had more impact with Molina’s 2 run homer in the NLCS in 2007 beating out Russell Martin’s two solo homers against Cueto in the Wild Card game.
Again, to Jaffe’s point, this is not fair to Martin: he cannot entirely control his team’s destiny, and Yadi had Albert Pujols for (most) of his career. I am sympathetic to this argument, I do not believe those St. Louis teams with Yadier Molina, but without Albert Pujols (and in 2006 Scott Rolen & Jim Edmonds) goes anywhere. Yadi clearly was not the catalyst for those teams. Then again, I am not convinced Russell Martin was the catalyst for any of his teams either. My goal is not to try to quantify Martin’s value, in this section, but ask a broader question: where does Martin fit in the story of baseball during his career?The argument I would make in his favor is that Russell Martin was on the leading edge of a defensive revolution. During his career pitch framing became a mainstream, and teachable, skill where catchers learned how to best set up their pitchers for success. This does not all fall on Martin, but Martin’s success is definitely part of the story. In fact, Martin’s pitch framing was a big reason why both the Yankees and Pirates acquired him in the first place. This is something that Yadi does not have on his resume.
Conclusion
The biggest thing granting Russell Martin (and Brian McCann, a player I will get to later) a chance here is the presence of Yadier Molina. Yadi is a Cardinals legend, an 8 time Gold Glove winner, and many view him as a slam dunk Hall of Famer. The Baseball-Reference data does not back this up largely because they do not include modern stats on pitch framing. Fangraphs (and Baseball Prospectus) do because they are ahead of the curve on catcher WAR (in some eyes). Since we lack the data to compare them to older catchers it’s impossible to know for sure whether old time catchers like Gabby Hartnett, Al Simmons, Gary Carter, and Yogi Berra were good or bad framers.
However, we do know that (all in): Russell Martin ranks only a few wins behind Joe Mauer and Ivan Rodriguez, both of whom are above the Baseball-Reference JAWS standard for catchers. Does that not, logically, at least put them in the conversation? I’d say yes: if there’s any reason for writers (and fans like me) to be involved in inducting players into the Hall of Fame, it’s because of our understanding of the game. You cannot ignore this data now that it’s been created.
I was not sure whether I think Yadier Molina belongs in the Hall of Fame, and while this data does push me closer to ‘yes’ I would remain slightly on the fence. What I am sure of is that Yadi will get into the Hall of Fame, and if Yadi is a Hall of Famer: then Russell Martin is either one himself or he’s damn close. Martin deserves his chance for his case to be heard.
-Benjamin, J