JD Martinez motivated to shake his reputation as bad defender

Fresh off landing one of the biggest free agent contracts of the winter, JD Martinez now has his sights set on another goal.

The Boston Red Sox outfielder said on Sunday that he hates his reputation as a poor defender and is motivated to change the public perception of him on that side of the ball, per Michael Silverman of the Boston Herald.

JD Martinez just stated pretty plainly that he's not a liability in the outfield and that he hates reputation that he's a bad defender. Doesn't agree w analytics that say otherwise. Motivated to change opinions of him on defense.

— Michael Silverman (@MikeSilvermanBB) March 4, 2018

Martinez, who just signed a five-year, $110 million mega-deal with the Red Sox, has always been known more for his bat than his glove. The numbers seem to back up that reputation as well — Martinez finished last season with -5 defensive runs saved (40th out of 56 qualified outfielders) and a -7.7 ultimate zone rating (53rd out of 56), according to Fangraphs.

But as he said above, the ex-All-Star does not quite agree with those advanced metrics, and that motivation should give him even more to play for this year.