Every morning when the alarm clock in your room sounds tirelessly, you prepare for another day of regular season. After a hearty breakfast, she gets ready to go to the place where she feels best when she’s away from family: the baseball field. It’s been five years since she first arrived in Nagoya City, and since then, she has done nothing but sacrifice herself for her dream: to play every day. Baseball is the biggest dues collector out there, the downside is that sometimes it doesn’t deliver the rewards. Apparently, on this occasion, that sport is being fair to Ariel Martínez.
After 125 games in the Western League, the league of the second team of the Chunichi Dragons, at last Matanzas is having a real opportunity in the Japanese League (NPB for its acronym in English). “My goal is to play every day, now that I am achieving it, it gives me a lot of satisfaction. As long as I play every day, I am sure that the results will come, I have a lot of confidence in myself”, Ariel told OnCuba.
The road has not been easy in Japan, but despite the obstacles, the yumurino is finding success in a new role and with a different approach. His offensive line (Average / On Base Average / Slugging / OPS) has been .291 / .365 / .464 / .829 in 222 appearances, which he has spread over 63 games (his most in a single game). campaign). By modern metrics, Ariel has been 57 times better than the average hitter.
The most amazing thing has not even been his performance in the home plateAfter all, every time he was given the opportunity to play in previous years, he performed well offensively. The pleasant surprise has been his change of position towards an unexpected place: left field.
“Since last year I was already training to defend the outfield, because since I got to the first team in 2020 the manager always wanted me to be an outfielder. Honestly, I play wherever I am, what makes me happy is playing every day and being able to help in some way,” Martinez said.
His metrics defending in left field are good, if we go by UZR (the best defensive meter we have in NPB) his rating would be 0.5. If we look at his range range above average it’s 1.4. That’s great for a player who had only added one game in the outfield in the National Series.
“Ariel is a motor for the team, his joy always spreads to the club house. The opportunity they are giving him this year has been fundamental, first because he contributes offensively and second, because he has defended well in the outfield. He is very complete,” Raidel Martínez, who is Chunichi’s closer and one of the best closers in the league, told us.
If anyone has followed Ariel’s career since she arrived in the Land of the Rising Sun, it’s Yuichi Terawaki. The 32-year-old is dedicated to collecting photos of Cuban players, in addition, he attends almost all the matches of the Dragones de Chunichi.
“Ariel is a player made for the NPB, especially because he knows and understands every training method. It’s been almost five years since he came here on a minor league deal. Since then, his serious and cheerful personality has been accepted by the franchise, establishing a strong position,” Yuichi, who considers himself a biographer of Martinez, told us.
Another person who is amazed with the new version of Ariel is the pitcher from Camagüey Yariel Rodríguez. “He’s having an amazing season, no one expected him to fit in the outfield as well as he is. Regarding his offensive level, he has always been high, of course, if he plays systematically more, those numbers stand out. ”
The Nagoya team is full of very talented young figures, among them, several West Indians stand out. In addition to Yariel, Ariel and Raidel, there are also Pedro Pablo Revilla, Guillermo García and Frank Abel Álvarez, who are advancing in their development process.
“This year has been difficult, despite having good pitching, he has failed us at key moments, hitting is still a point against. Nonetheless, the future of the franchise looks promising. We haven’t thrown in the towel yet because there is a full half left and in it, we will try to win as many games as possible to reach the playoffs”, assured Ariel, aware of the difficulty of the challenge, since they are last in the Central League.
The Dragons have not won a title since 2007 and have not qualified for the postseason since 2012. As Ariel explained, there is still work to be done, at least the use they are giving to the Cubans is correct.
“Since I am a Dragons player I feel that I am better in all aspects. My offense has progressed along with the defense and I have learned to be a versatile player” said Ariel. Just as versatility helped the yumurino to obtain more opportunities, it will also help other youngsters who reach any team on the Japanese circuit.
“The versatility helps to find the space to play. You are not only competing against the rivals, you are also competing against the imported ones of your team since there are only four foreigners on the active list. So if you can cover several positions you will have more opportunities. In the teams of the Central League, in which there is no designated hitter, then versatility takes on more value”.
Ariel’s message is not only for the young players who come to NPB, in MLB, that modus operandi with prospects has become a pattern. Players making their debut have had to adapt to various positions and we have several examples to illustrate that (from Nick Sencell to Vladimir Guerrero Jr.).
The native of “the city of bridges” knows Japanese baseball like few others; he knows the weight of distance from family, too, he knows every mile he has traveled from the second team to the first. But all of that is worth it when you do it for one goal: to play baseball every day.
“I want to help my team, I want to be a part of every win and how can I do that? Only one way, playing every day. That’s my goal.”
