Victor Martinez Is A Bounce Back Candidate For 2016

There are plenty of reasons to balk at drafting Victor Martinez in 2016. The Tigers' slugger had a career year in 2014, putting up lifetime bests in HR, AVG, and OBP while striking out only 6.6% of the time. Heading into last season, he was a clear regression candidate, especially after having off-season knee surgery. That regression happened in a major way: .245/.301/.366 with just 11 HR in 120 games.

Despite his ugly totals in 2015, there were a couple bright spots: Martinez hit .348 against lefties and .500 with the bases loaded last year. Realistically, Martinez's output is somewhere between his 2014 and 2015 numbers. A career .302/.367/.467 line shows that he has been a reliable bat over the years, and the fact he has gone over 100 RBI five different times speaks to his run production. Heading into 2016 healthy, Victor could easily see himself floating around his career batting numbers and swatting 15-20 HR. Martinez is not a risk-free pick, and he isn't someone to draft in the early rounds, but as a mid-to-late round sleeper, he could give your team a dramatic boost.
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