J.D. Martinez Is A Premier Power Bat For 2016

Heading into the 2015 season, there were some skeptics around the league who thought J.D. Martinez's 2014 power surge was a fluke. After turning in a career-best 38 HR last season, Martinez has proven that his long-ball strength is for real. To go along with is 38 bombs, Martinez also turned in 102 RBI and got on base at a .344 clip. To put it plainly, when Martinez puts the bat on the ball, and he does it with some serious thump. According to FanGraphs, Martinez made hard contact over 42% of the time last year. Even if his home run numbers decrease (which they shouldn't) you can still bank on Martinez hitting a lot of line-drive doubles in spacious Comerica Park. All of that adds up to considerable fantasy value for Martinez, who finds himself in the middle of a powerful (and healthy--knock on wood) Tigers lineup in 2016. Add in the fact that Martinez has spent a considerable chunk of time hitting in the cages this offseason with Miguel Cabrera, and you've got a player ready to cement his status as one of the games best power hitters in the upcoming MLB sesason.