Martín Maldonado
Martín Benjamín Maldonado Valdés (born August 16, 1986) is a Puerto Rican professional baseball catcher for the Houston Astros of Major League Baseball (MLB) . He has previously played in MLB for the Milwaukee Brewers, Los Angeles Angels, Kansas City Royals, and Chicago Cubs. The Angels selected Maldonado in the 27th round of the 2004 MLB draft. He made his major league debut in 2011 for the Brewers. He won a Gold Glove Award and a Fielding Bible Award in 2017. "The New York Times" described him in October 2021, following a season in which Maldonado batted .172, as  “arguably the worst hitter in baseball,” and "Sports Illustrated" wrote that "he quite possibly could be the worst-hitting everyday player in MLB history." Professional career. Anaheim/Los Angeles Angels. Maldonado was drafted by the Anaheim Angels in the 27th round of the 2004 Major League Baseball draft. He played his first professional season for the rookie-level Arizona League Angels that year, and batted .217/.277/.233. In 2005, he again played for Arizona, and also played for the rookie-level Orem Owlz. After he played one more season for the Arizona Angels in 2006, in which he batted .222/.329/.270, he  was released. Milwaukee Brewers. In 2007, Maldonado signed a minor league contract with the Milwaukee Brewers and played for the West Virginia Power of the Class A South Atlantic League, batting .221/.309/.288. In 2008, he played for the Brevard County Manatees of the Class A-Advanced Florida State League and the Huntsville Stars of the Class AA Southern League, batting a combined .229/.290/.313. He began the 2009 season with the Manatees, and was called up to the Nashville Sounds of the Class AAA Pacific Coast League at mid-season. However, he returned to the Manatees to finish out the season . In 2009 he batted a combined .201/.295/.257. On defense, he was charged with a combined 17 passed balls in 93 games. Maldonado played the majority of 2010 with Nashville, but also spent time with Huntsville and Brevard County. On defense, he was charged with a combined 13 passed balls in 96 games. He made his Major League debut on September 3, 2011. He played in 3 games for the Brewers after his callup, striking out in his only at bat. Maldonado was called up to the Brewers again in May 2012 when starting catcher Jonathan Lucroy went down with a  freak hand injury, due to his wife dropping a suitcase on it. In 2012 with Nashville he batted .198/.270/.347. He played 78 games for the Brewers in 2012. In 2013 he batted .169/.236/.284 for the Brewers. His .169 batting average was the lowest of all major leaguers with 200 or more plate appearances. Maldonado was involved in an unusual play in which he hit the cover off a baseball. In a game against the Pittsburgh Pirates on April 18, 2014, Maldonado hit a ground ball to third base. By the time Pirates third baseman Pedro Álvarez fielded the grounder, the  cover had partially come off the baseball and was hanging off its side; Álvarez threw the ball to first but it fell apart in midair, and made it to first only after several hops; Maldonado was awarded an infield hit. Two days later Maldonado punched Pirate outfielder Travis Snider in the face in Pittsburgh, leaving Snider with a cut under a black eye. He was suspended for five games, and fined $2,500, which with the suspension resulted in him losing $16,200. On May 31, 2015, Maldonado caught a 17-inning game and also hit his first walk-off  home run, in the bottom of the 17th against the Arizona Diamondbacks. In 2015 he batted .210/.282/.293. His nine errors were third-most among AL catchers. In 2016 he batted .202/.332/.351 for the Brewers. His seven errors were fourth-most among AL catchers. Second stint with Angels. On December 13, 2016, Maldonado and pitcher Drew Gagnon were traded to the Los Angeles Angels for catcher Jett Bandy. Maldonado was named the Angels’ starting catcher and in 2017 played in a career-high 138 games, batting .221 with 14 home runs and 38 RBIs. He won a 2017 Rawlings Gold Glove  Award. Houston Astros. On July 26, 2018, the Angels traded Maldonado to the Houston Astros in exchange for pitcher prospect Patrick Sandoval and international pool space cash. His 13 passed balls were second-most among AL catchers. In the 2018 postseason he batted .105/.150/.316. He became a free agent on October 29. Kansas City Royals. The Kansas City Royals signed Maldonado nearly half a year later to a one-year, $2.5 million contract on March 11, 2019, following a season-ending elbow injury to catcher Salvador Pérez. Maldonado batted .227/.291/.366 over 74 games for the Royals. Chicago Cubs. On  July 15, the Royals traded Maldonado to the Chicago Cubs in exchange for left-handed pitcher Mike Montgomery. He had 11 at bats with the Cubs, in which he failed to get a hit. He remained with the team a total of 16 days. Second stint with Houston Astros. 2019. On July 31, 2019, the Cubs traded Maldonado to the Houston Astros in exchange for outfielder Tony Kemp. For Houston he batted .202/.316/.464. In 98 plate appearances in 27 games he hit six home runs, drew 13 walks, and scored 20 runs with just 17 hits for a run-scoring  percentage of 56%. On defense, he threw out one-of-11 attempted base-stealers. He hit his first career home run in World Series play in Game 2 in the ninth inning versus Washington Nationals reliever Javy Guerra in a 12–3 Houston defeat. 2020. On December 23, 2019, Maldonado signed a two-year contract with the Astros, worth $7 million. In 2020, he batted .215/.350/.378 with six home runs and 24 RBIs in 135 at bats, drawing 27 bases on balls in 165 plate appearances, and striking out 51 times (38% of the time). In the postseason, he batted .171/.275/.314 , as he struck out 18 times in 35 at bats (51% of the time). 2021. On April 21, 2021, Maldonado agreed to a one-year, $5 million contract extension with the Astros, with a $5 million vesting option for the 2023 season. In 2021, Maldonado batted .172/.272/.300 in 373 at bats. His .172 batting average was the lowest of all AL players with 200 or more plate appearances. He struggled especially in the clutch; in games that were late and close, he batted .089/.226/.178. He was the second-slowest catcher in major league baseball, and the slowest player  on the Astros, with a sprint speed of 23.5 feet/second. His .195 batting average for the three years of 2019-21 was the lowest of all major leaguers with 800 or more plate appearances. Sportswriter Tom Verducci observed: "He is a 35-year-old catcher with a career .212 batting average over more than 2,900 plate appearances. Only three other players in history ever stuck around for that many plate appearances by hitting so poorly: [pitcher] Cy Young and two famously inept hitting catchers, Bill Bergen and Jeff Mathis." "The New York Times" described him in October 2021, following  a season in which Maldonado batted .172, as “arguably the worst hitter in baseball,” and "Sports Illustrated" wrote that "he quite possibly could be the worst-hitting everyday player in MLB history." He had career-highs of 47 bases on balls and 127 strikeouts (striking out 34% of the time). On defense, his eight errors were second-most among AL catchers. He ranked fourth among all AL fielders in putouts (1,058). Among catchers, he also placed second in putouts (1,049), third in total zone runs as calculated by Baseball-Reference (five), fourth in assists (44), second in double plays turned  (nine), second in caught stealing percentage (39.6%), and first in runners caught stealing (19). He was named as a Gold Glove finalist at catcher. In the 2021 ALDS, Maldonado batted .067/.067/.067. He batted .071 in the ALCS. Defense and preparation. He spent his first six seasons as a backup catcher in Milwaukee. Maldonado's throwing arm has attracted praise, as he dispatched 19 of 48 would-be basestealers during the 2021 season, the fourth-best caught-stealing percentage in the league. When it came to his framing, however, he has been rated a below-average pitch framer; in October 2020  Fangraphs rated him -2.1 in framing, worse than the average catcher, and Baseball Savant rated him the 38th percentile of MLB catchers in framing. Primarily known for his defense and pitch-calling, as of 2021 he had not hit well in his career (.290 on-base percentage). In spite of his low offensive productivity, Houston acquired Maldonado at consecutive trade deadlines, pursued him multiple times in free agency, and signed him to a contract extension in 2021. Astros teammate Carlos Correa lauded his dedication and meticulousness in preparation of the pitching staff. During his Gold-Glove winning campaign in Los  Angeles in 2017 Maldonado first made an impression on McCullers, causing him to repeatedly urge then-Astros manager A. J. Hinch to acquire the veteran catcher.