Angel Martinez is showing plenty of growth after an offseason challenge from the Cleveland Guardians.
Coming into the 2026 season, Angel Martinez secured his spot on the Cleveland Guardians’ roster thanks to his defensive versatility as an infielder and outfielder. Plus, he was one of the team’s best hitters off left-handed pitching.
The Guardians, specifically manager Stephen Vogt, didn’t want to pigeonhole the 24-year-old into a platoon role. With that, Cleveland pushed Martinez heading into the offseason, and it’s starting to pay off.
“He’s growing,” said Vogt. “He's a great right-handed hitter; We know that. We challenged him in the off-season, and he's definitely answered that challenge. He's looked great from the left side of the plate.”
As Cleveland’s skipper alluded to, Martinez is growing and developing in front of our eyes, and his splits from last year compared to the early start of this season are a perfect example of that.
2025 Splits:
- Vs. LHP: .279/.349/.442
- Vs. RHP: .197/.227/.318
- Total: .224/.269/.359
2026 Splits:
- Vs. LHP: .267/.267/.267
- Vs. RHP: .391/.500/. 652
- Total: .342/.419/.500
Apr 11, 2026; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Cleveland Guardians left fielder Angel Martinez (1) reacts after a double against the Atlanta Braves in the ninth inning at Truist Park. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn ImagesClearly, Martinez took this challenge to heart and did the necessary work to improve against right-handed pitching. He’s one of Cleveland’s hottest hitters and keeps on moving up the Guardians’ lineup because of it.
Steven Kwan is getting the day off on Sunday night in Cleveland’s series finale with the Atlanta Braves, and Martinez is getting the honors of leading off with former Cy Young winner Chris Sale on the mound.
Not only has Martinez gotten better with his right-handed and left-handed splits, but he’s also made improvements with his overall power, too. The switch-hitter has seen a slight uptick in his average exit velocity and barrel rate.
Some of this improvement is expected, given that Martine debuted at 22 and is now 24. But, again, these improvements are just another example of Martinez’s continued development.
It’s still very early on in the season, there’s a very long way to go, and what we’ve seen from Martinez is still just a small sample size.
However, if Martinez can keep this trend of being just as good against right-handed pitching, then he is against left-handed pitching, then he’s not just going to be a key piece for Cleveland this season, but will be a cornerstone to build around for years to come.
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