NEWSLETTER
Earlier this season, Scooter Gennett made history when he became just the 17th player in Major League history to hit four home runs in a single game.
Before him, it had been five years since the last player (Josh Hamilton) accomplished the feat.
But unfortunately for Scooter, his reign as the most recent “slugger” to match this record was short-lived, because last night J.D. Martinez launched not one, not two, not three, but FOUR homers against the Dodgers in Los Angeles.
Check it out:
.@JDMartinez14 returned to 423 text messages on his phone when he got back to the clubhouse.
This is why. #JustDingerspic.twitter.com/lBGxo8Qboa
— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) September 5, 2017
According to the Diamondbacks Twitter account, Martinez came back to 423 (!) text messages from friends and family congratulating him on the huge night.
And make no mistake, that night was huge. Check out his slash line before and after the game (while remembering that he’s roughly 400 plate appearances into this season).
Before:Â .277/.362/.617 (145 wRC+); 30 HRs
After:Â .285/.367/.654 (155 wRC+); 34 HRs
Basically:Â wut?
You should not be able to raise your batting average by eight points, OBP by five points, and slugging percentage by 37 points in a single night … in September. That is absurd and unheard of.
It’s absurdly unheard of.
He also managed to take his ISO from an already ridiculous .339 (which would’ve ranked 3rd in MLB) to an even crazier .369 ISO. The league leader in power this year, Giancarlo Stanton, has a .371 ISO and he’s in pursuit of Roger Maris’ 61 homers, so, yeah, that’s a lot of power.
And take a look at how he spread his homers to left, left center, right center, and right field. His hitting coach is probably smiling ear-to-ear:
https://twitter.com/darenw/status/904903440979165184
And perhaps the best part about each of Martinez’s homers last night is that not a single one of them was cheap.
#31: 109 MPH, 436 Feet
#32: 107 MPH, 417 Feet
#33: 105 MPH, 417 Feet
#34: 108 MPH, 401 Feet
Each dinger was at least 105 MPH and over 400 feet in distance. That’s one HELL of a night at the plate.
And in case you’re wondering, he technically did get a chance at hitting five homers, but in his first at-bat of the day he struck out swinging. Shrug. What a bum.
