Martin Maldonado
Martin Maldonado was born in Naguabo, Puerto Rico, United States on August 16th, 1986 and is the Baseball Player. At the age of 38, Martin Maldonado biography, profession, age, height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, measurements, education, career, dating/affair, family, news updates, and networth are available.
At 38 years old, Martin Maldonado has this physical status:
Martín Benjamín Maldonado Valdés (born August 16, 1986) is a Puerto Rican professional baseball catcher who is a free agent.
He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Milwaukee Brewers, Los Angeles Angels, Houston Astros.
Kansas City Royals, and Chicago Cubs.
Maldonado was drafted by the Angels in the 27th round of the 2004 Major League Baseball draft.
He made his major league debut in 2011, with the Brewers.
He is primarily known for his defense and pitch-calling; he won a Gold Glove Award in 2017.
Professional career
In the 27th round of the 2004 Major League Baseball draft, Maldonado was drafted by the Anaheim Angels. He spent his first season with the Arizona League Angels, batting.217/.233.
In 2005, he played for Arizona again, as well as for the Orem Owls, the rookie team. He was fired after playing for one more season with the Arizona Angels in 2006, in which he batted.222/.329/.270.
Maldonado signed a minor league deal with the Milwaukee Brewers in 2007 and competed for the West Virginia Power of the South Atlantic League, batting.288/.288. He competed for the Brevard County Manatees of the Class A-Advanced Florida State League and the Huntsville Stars of the Class AA Southern League in 2008, batting a total of.292/.339/.313.
He began the 2009 season with the Manatees and was drafted to the Nashville Sounds of the Class AAA Pacific Coast League at mid-season. However, he returned to the Manatees to complete the season. He batted a total of.201/.259/.257 in 2009. He was charged with a total of 17 passed balls in 93 games on defense.
Maldonado spent the majority of 2010 with Nashville, but he also spent time with Huntsville and Brevard County. He was charged with a total of 13 passed balls in 96 games on defense.
On September 3, 2011, he made his Major League debut. Since being called up, he played in three games for the Brewers, striking out in his first at bat.
In May 2012, Maldonado was called up to the Brewers again, after his wife lost a suitcase on it. He batted 198/.347/.347 in 2012 in Nashville. In 2012, he appeared in 78 games for the Brewers.
He batted.169/.236/.284 for the Brewers in 2013. His.169 batting average was the lowest among all major leaguers with 200 or more plate appearances.
Maldonado was embroiled in an unusual game in which he stole a baseball. Maldonado hit a ground ball to third base in a game against the Pittsburgh Pirates on April 18, 2014. The coverage had partially come off the baseball field and was hanging off its side; lavarez threw the ball to first, but it fell off in midair, and Maldonado was named first after several hops; Pedro lvarez fielded the grounder; by the time the Pirates third baseman Pedro lvarez fielded the ball, it was pushed to first; but the ball was still on top by this time; and Maldonado was named first infield;
Travis Snider, a Pirate outfielder, was punched by Maldonado in Pittsburgh two days later, leaving Snider with a scratch under his black eye. He had been banned for five games and fined $2,500, which culminated in him losing $16,200.
Maldonado's first walk-off home run came in the bottom of the 17th against the Arizona Diamondbacks on May 31, 2015. He batted.210/.293.293, making nine errors in 2015, third-most among NL catchers.
He batted.202/.351 for the Brewers in 2016. His seven errors were the fourth-most among AL catchers.
Drew Gagnon, a right-hand pitcher, was traded to the Los Angeles Angels for catcher Jett Bandy on December 13, 2016. Maldonado was the Angels' starting catcher and appeared in 138 games, batting.221 with 14 home runs and 38 RBIs in 2017. He was a winner of the 2017 Rawlings Gold Glove Award.
The Angels released Maldonado on July 26, 2018 in exchange for pitcher prospect Patrick Sandoval and international pool space money. His 13 passed balls were second-most among AL catchers. He batted.105/.316/.316 in the 2018 postseason. On October 29, he became a free agent.
Following a season-ending elbow injury to catcher Salvador Pérez, the Kansas City Royals signed Maldonado almost two years later to a one-year, $2.5 million contract on March 11, 2019. Over 74 games for the Royals, Maldonado batted.227/291/.366.
In exchange for left-handed pitcher Mike Montgomery, the Royals traded Maldonado to the Chicago Cubs on July 15. With the Cubs, he had 11 at bats, in which he failed to get a hit. He spent a total of 16 days with the team.
In exchange for outfielder Tony Kemp, the Cubs traded Maldonado to the Houston Astros on July 31, 2019. On August 3, 2019, Maldonado thrashed the Seattle Mariners in a combined no-hitter, directed by Aaron Sanchez, Will Harris, Joe Biagini, and Chris Devenski.
Maldonado batted for Houston, Texas, 202/.464. He hit six home runs, drew 13 runs, and scored 20 runs in 98 plate appearances in 27 games for a run-scoring percentage of 56%. He snuffed out one of 11 attempted base-stealers on defense.
In Game 2 against Washington Nationals reliever Javy Guerra in a 12–3 loss, he scored his first home run in World Series play.
Maldonado's contract with the Astros ended on December 23, 2019, worth $7 million. He batted.215/.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). He batted.171/.305/.314, out of 18 times in 35 at bats (51% of the time).
Maldonado, a twenty-year contract extension with the Astros, has agreed to a one-year, $5 million contract extension for the 2021 season.
Maldonado batted.172/.300 at 373 at bats in 2021. His.172 batting average was the lowest of any AL player with 200 or more plate appearances. He suffered in the clutch, and in games that were late and close, he batted.089/.226/.178. He was the second-slowest catcher in major league baseball and the Astros' slowest player with a sprint speed of 23.5 feet per 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.
"He is a 35-year-old catcher with a.212 batting average over more than 2,900 plate appearances," sportswriter Tom Verducci wrote. Only three other players in history have stuck around for so many plate appearances by being poor: [pitcher] Cy Young and two other inept hitting catchers, Bill Bergen and Jeff Mathis." "Much as the worst hitter in baseball," the New York Times described him in October 2021 as "arguably the worst hitter in baseball" after a season in which Maldonado batted.172 as "arguably the worst hitter in baseball." Sports Illustrated wrote that "he could possibly 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). His eight errors were second-most among AL catchers on defense. He ranked fourth among AL fielders in putouts (1,058). He also ranked second in putouts (1,049), third in total zone runs, fourth in assists (44), second in second-hand turns (nine), second in caught theft percentage (39.6%), and first in runners caught stealing (19). He was a catcher for the Gold Gloves.
Maldonado Batted.067/.067/.067/.067 in the 2021 ALDS. In the ALCS, he batted.071 runs. Maldonado went 1-for-3 with 3 RBI in Game 5 of the World Series against the Atlanta Braves, leading to the Astros' 9-5 victory in an elimination game.
Maldonado homered in the second innings against the Detroit Tigers on May 6, 2022, giving the Astros the victory in a 3–2 victory. Batting.116 in the May 19 game, Maldonado doubled in eighth inning over the Texas Rangers to give insurance runs in a 5–1 victory.
In the second and seventh innings, respectively, Maldonado was behind the plate for immaculate innings written by Luis Garcia and Phil Maton. Both players of the Rangers, Nathaniel Lowe, Ezequiel Duran, and Brad Miller were knocked at Globe Life Field. It was the first major league game with more than one immaculate inning (and the first time more than was thrown on the same date in the major leagues). In a 9-2 victory for the Astros, Maldonado, the catcher for each of Houston's strikeouts, doubled and homered.
On June 25, 2022, Maldonado was born with a combined no-hitter of the New York Yankees delivered by Cristian Javier, Héctor Neris, and Ryan Pressly. It was the 14th no-hitter in Astros history. Maldonado was the first person to record more than one combining no-hitter for the Astros, having previously caught a combined no-hitter on August 3, 2019. José Urquidy opened the game with 6+13 hitless innings against the Yankees, before the Giancarlo Stanton home run. The no-hit streak lasted 16+1/3 innings, tying a 1981 Dodgers pitching staff record against the 1981 Dodgers, tying an expansion-era record.
After beating the Los Angeles Angels on July 2, Maldonado homered twice, including once against Patrick Sandoval, who the Astros acquired in 2018 to help him. Maldonado was behind the plate for 20 strikeouts by the Astros pitching, including the first six innings by Framber Valdez, Nero (7th), Rafael Montero (8th), and Pressly (9th), establishing a new franchise record for a nine-inning match. Maldonado led the Oakland Athletics to a 5–0 win on July 16 after being shut down by a shutout on July 16 and his third grand slam in his career.
Maldonado's 90th appearance of the season on August 21 was his 90th appearance of the season, earning a $4.5 million ($4.5 million today) vesting option for the 2023 season. Maldonado's first six innings and winning his first major league debut on September 5, 2009. Maldonado brought the game's sole run home. In an 11–2 victory over Oakland, he scored four runs in a game for the first time on September 18, while still running in four runs and tying his career record with four hits.
He batted 186/.352 at 344 at bats in 2022. He had career-highs of 15 home runs and 45 RBIs. He suffered in the clutch again, but he batted.182/.222/.273 in games that were late and close. His.179 average for the two years of 2021-22 was the lowest of any major leaguers with 800 or more plate appearances. His.209 career batting average was the lowest nonpitcher average over the past 50 years (minimum 1,000 games). He was the third-slowest catcher in major league baseball and the Astros' slowest hitter, with a sprint speed of 22.4 feet per second. Maldonado's defense played in 113 games, third in the AL among catchers, led AL catchers in putouts (1,025), assists (49), and passed balls (9). He finished fifth in baserunners caught stealing (16), while 46% of runners were successful, and tied for fifth in stolen bases allowed. The Astros pitching established a 2.90 earned run average (ERA), a franchise record over a 162-game season, and the bullpen led the major leagues with a 2.80 ERA.
Following the regular season, Maldonado was named with the Darryl Kile Award for his involvement with the media following games, giving salient insight, and his treatment of one of the most effective pitching staffs in baseball. At catcher, he was nominated for the AL Silver Slugger Award.