Red Sox slugger J.D. Martinez bashes 200th career home run

Boston Red Sox designated hitter J.D. Martinez collected the 200th home run of his career during Tuesday’s win in Baltimore.

J.D. Martinez sent a reminder to the Baltimore Orioles that he’s still among the most feared sluggers in the game. He attacked the first pitch he saw from David Hess, sending it 416 feet to dead-center for a two-run homer that gave the Boston Red Sox a first-inning lead.

The blast was noteworthy not only for drawing first blood in an eventual Red Sox victory. It was also the 200th home run of Martinez’ career.

Martinez tallied his 200th home run in his 957th career game, making him the seventh-fastest active major league player to reach that total, according to the Boston Globe’s Alex Speier. Only Giancarlo Stanton, Albert Pujols, Chris Davis, Ryan Braun, Mike Trout, and Khris Davis achieved this milestone in fewer career games.

The achievement solidifies Martinez’ status as one of the premier power hitters in the game today. Martinez was second in the majors with 43 home runs last year while making a valiant run at the coveted Triple Crown and he set a career-high with 45 the previous year.

While he’s known as an elite power threat now, that wasn’t always the case. Martinez struggled at the plate in his first few seasons, collecting only 24 total home runs over parts of three seasons before the Houston Astros gave up on him. Martinez transformed his swing by embracing the launch angle movement after catching on with the Detroit Tigers. His breakout season finally came in 2014 when he hit 23 homers and he was an All-Star the following year when he reached 38 in a career-high 158 games.

That it took so long for Martinez to play in anything close to a full season is what will hold him back in the long run. It’s impressive that just over a handful of active players have reached 200 home runs in as many games as Martinez did yet most of them got there before turning 31 years old. Pujols and Trout will be enshrined in the Hall of Fame one day but they reached 200 home runs by their age 25 seasons. Martinez was still considered a bust in the Astros organization at that age.

The closest comparison to Martinez in this select group is Oakland’s Khris Davis, who bashed his 200th home run earlier this season at the age of 31. It was the 790th career game for Davis, who didn’t reach the majors until he was 25.