Edward Martinez (Germany)

Edward Martinez

• Bats Right, Throws Right

• Born June 6, 1974

Shortstop Edward Martinez was born in the Dominican Republic but has spent his baseball career in Germany and is a German citizen.

Martinez was with the Mainz Athletics in 1998. He was among the southern Bundesliga-1's leaders in runs (67, 3rd), hits (57, tied for 7th), RBI (44, 8th) and doubles (14, 5th) and stole 17 bases in 18 tries. In '99, he had his best year, leading the league in average (.544) and OBP (.624) and tying for the lead in hits, doubles (17) and triples (4). He was second in slugging (.974), third in runs (52) and tied for 4th in RBI (38).

Edward batted .438/.556/.875 in 2000 and was among the leaders in average (9th), OBP (7th), slugging (8th), runs (57, 1st), RBI (41, tied for 6th) and hits (49, tied for 5th). In 2001, Martinez hit .438/.543/.724 for Mainz and led in runs (47) once more. He was 5th in average, tied for 4th in OBP, 5th in slugging, second in RBI (38), 2nd in hits (43), tied for 5th in doubles (11) and tied for 3rd in triples (3). He also stole 20 bases in 22 tries.

Martinez hit .427/.515/.671 in 2002 and stole 15 bases without being caught. He was 4th in average, 5th in slugging, 7th in OBP, tied for 5th in hits (35), was 5th in RBI and 4th in steals. In 2003, he batted .354/.461/.659 with 31 runs in 28 games; he was among the leaders in average (10th), home runs (tied for first, 5), RBI (22, tied for 7th), hits (29, tied for 7th), walks (8th), runs (tied for second), steals (14, tied for 4th), slugging (3rd), OBP (10th) and assists (72, 2nd to Andy Janzen).

In 2004, Edward hit .330/.407/.462 for Mainz. The next season, the veteran infielder produced at a .275/.427/.495 rate; no longer a speedster, he only stole four bases in nine tries. Martinez was among the leaders in homers (5, tied with Klaus Hopfensperger for 4th), walks (22, tied for first with Sascha Lutz) and OPS (10th).

Martinez moved to the Saarlouis Hornets in 2006 and hit .387/.487/.645 and was among the league leaders in walks (17) and assists (107). In '07, he batted .239/.374/.326 and led shortstops in the circuit with a .948 fielding percentage. The old-timer bounced back in 2008 to bat .311/.387/.509; he again topped the circuit with a .948 fielding percentage. He led in triples (4) and tied Keith Maxwell for 4th in doubles (10). He is on Germany's preliminary 40-man roster for the 2009 Baseball World Cup.

Source: German Baseball and Softball Federation