Angel Martínez's resurgence has Guardians in position to reconsider deadline plans

Angel Martínez has had quite an MLB career since he earned his first MLB callup last year.

He was struggling at the 2025 and was slashing just .213/.245/.360 in May before catastrophically posting a .184/.215/.289 slash line through June. For a guy with no true defensive home, things were looking sour ahead of a fascinating trade deadline for the Guardians.

However, over the past month, Martínez has started to make some headway back into long-term relevancy. Over the past 30 days, the center fielder ranks second on the team in OPS (.852) behind only Jose Ramirez.

So, is this the Martínez Guardians fans can expect going forward? And, if it is, what does that mean for Cleveland's plans at the trade deadline?

Angel Martínez's presence gives Guardians options at trade deadline

Part of Martínez's issue is he isn't a patient hitter. His walk rate (3.5%) ranks in the second percentile across all of MLB, as does his chase rate (42.3%). His batted ball metrics naturally suffer from that willingness to swing at pitches outside the zone as well.

However, hope is not lost. Martinez has dropped his strikeout rate to 22.0% in July, and his .928 OPS and 153 wRC+ suggest there's more improvements going on under the hood.

Lo and behold, Martinez is doing things this month that should have fans salivating. His ground ball rate is down at a wildly impressive 18.6%, inflating his fly ball rate to 47.5%. It would help if he hit those fly balls a little harder, but in conjunction with dropping his soft contact rate below 12.0%, he's starting to do more damage at the plate.

And here's the kicker: Martínez has already seen 30 more pitches than he did in June despite playing in one less game and having one less at-bat. His pitches per plate appearances is up to 3.76 compared to 3.43 in June. If he can hone his eye a little more, his swings will start to produce more positive results

Of course, this conversation doesn't mention defense, where Martinez has been an average defender at second (one Out Above Average in 211 innings) and a mess in center field (-3 OAA in 476 1/3 innings) this season. Finding him a long-term home, perhaps one that can take advantage of his 98th-percentile arm strength and high-end sprint speed (i.e., right field), should become a priority for Cleveland in the second half of the 2025 campaign.

Regardless, what Martinez's breakout means for the Guardians is that they don't have to force the issue at the trade deadline. Everyone knows they need bats, but if there is internal belief that he can play in the corners of the outfield long-term, then they can focus on adding in the infield, or vice versa.

In effect, if Martinez's hot streak is to be believed, then the Guardians can operate on a "best player available" mindset at the trade deadline. And that's a position every team wants to be in.