Martinez addition propelled Arizona

PHOENIX — July 18, the Arizona Diamondbacks acquired slugging outfielder J.D. Martinez from the Detroit Tigers for three minorleaguers.

It might go down as one of the best midseason acquisitions in baseball history.

Martinez has had a thunderous final half to the season, and it only picked up steam down the stretch.

“I’ve never seen anything like what he’s done the last month,” Diamondbacks center fielder A.J. Pollock said. “Yeah, we kind of keep looking, ‘Where would we be without J.D.?’”

In 62 games with the Diamondbacks, Martinez hit .302 with 29 home runs and 65 RBIs, and he has fit in perfectly with the team’s “family” culture nurtured by first year manager Torey Lovullo.

“It’s been a great couple of months,” Martinez said.

The final month has been spectacular.

In September, Martinez hit .404 (40 for 99) with 16 home runs (tying a National League record), 8 doubles, 36 RBIs and 24 runs scored in 24 games.

“It’s a good run I’m on,” he said. “I just want to keep it up and continue in the playoffs.”

Martinez and the Diamondbacks play host to the National League wild-card game Wednesday night against the Colorado Rockies. “It’s cool, it’s a great feeling,” he said of what he’s done in Arizona so far, “but the job’s not done yet. We’ve got one game we’ve got to get in and we’ve got to keep it going.”

Catcher Chris Iannetta said the key to Martinez’s successis the work he does.

“I think no one hits more than him, no one watches more video and studies his own swing, studies opposing pitchers,” Iannetta said.

Lovullo said Martinez’s production at the plate is the result of all that effort.

“The thing that people don’t see is what he does behind the scenes,” Lovullo said. “There’s notes in a notebook. There’s video and studying. There’s tendencies and habits. There’s constant practice and perfection of the swing.And it translates.”

Combined with his time in Detroit, Martinez hit .303 with a career-high 45 home runs.

“I get a chance to sit next to him or stand next to him before he’s going in the on-deck circle, and it’s the same routine,” Lovullo said. “He does it with his eyes open. He does it with his eyes closed. I know there is a lot of muscle memory that he has perfected. So when he walks up to home plate, it’s just put things in automatic and let it happen.”

Martinez’s September included a fabulous night in Dodger Stadium, when he becamethe 18th player in major league history to hit four homeruns in a game.

“He’s been a huge part of this team, helped us get where we are,” pitcher Patrick Corbin said. “... It feels like he’s going to homer everytime at the plate.”

The Tigers got Dawel Lugo, Sergio Alcantara and Jose King in exchange for Martinez, certainly a bargain for arguably the best position player on the market before the trade deadline. And he was just what Arizona needed, a corner outfielder who could bat behind Paul Goldschmidt in the heart of the Diamondbacks lineup.

“I was disappointed leaving Detroit because that was obviously my home for so many years,” Martinez said, “but at the same time I was excited to be joining a playoff caliber team.”

He fit right into the Diamondbacks tight clubhouse. Martinez is, Lovullo said, “a tremendous teammate and a part of this family we developed here.”