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Astros demote RBI leader J.D. Martinez to minors

J.D. Martinez

Houston Astros’ J.D. Martinez in a baseball game against the Kansas City Royals Monday, June 18, 2012, in Houston. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan)

AP

I’m not much for evaluating hitters based on RBI totals, but it’s still interesting that the struggling Astros have demoted their RBI leader, J.D. Martinez, to Triple-A after he was their starting left fielder for the first two-thirds of the season.

Martinez has a team-high 54 RBIs in 102 games, although that a) isn’t all that many and b) comes with a measly .235 batting average, 11 homers, and .681 OPS. And those modest season totals include a very strong April, after which Martinez has hit just .222 with a .276 on-base percentage and .352 slugging percentage in 80 games.

Martinez jumped from Double-A to the majors, so the Astros are hoping it’ll be easier for him to work on his swing while playing at Triple-A for the first time and most likely he’ll be back in Houston as a September call-up.