AL Player of the Week: Mariners Outfielder Leonys Martin

By David Conde
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Updated: May 23, 2016

Joe Robbins/GETTY Images

The Seattle Mariners are in first place in the American League West with a 26-17 record, which is second best in the AL.

Now finally the signing of Robinson Cano is paying off, as he is having a great start to the 2016 season, but in order to play winning baseball as a team, you need a supporting cast and over the past month, Cano is receiving help from guys like outfielder Leonys Martin.

Martin, who signed with the Texas Rangers as an amateur free agent in 2011, was traded by the Rangers to the Mariners in a five-player trade on November 16, 2015.

In his previous five seasons with Texas, the Cuban native batted .255, with 20 home runs, 120 RBI, and 84 stolen bases.

This season he is a big part of the Mariners surge to first and over the past week from May 16th to May 22nd, he is batting .550 (11 for 20), with five runs scored, a double, three home runs, four RBI’s and four walks.

Martin currently has a six game hitting streak, with three multi-hit games in that span including a 4 for 5 game against the Cincinnati Reds on Sunday.

In April, Martin was batting just .200, with four home runs and 10 RBI’s, but with a little over a week left in May, he is currently hitting .308, with four home runs and seven RBI’s.

The Mariners are playing great baseball so far to start the season and Martin’s production has been a big key to their early success.

Seattle hasn’t taken their division since the 2001 season when they won 116 games, so this can finally be the year where they get over the hump and Martin’s consistency at the plate can be key to victory.

David Conde

David is the Co-Founder and Executive Editor of Legends On Deck®, as well as a Co-Host on Legends On Deck Podcast. David was a Senior Editor for MetsMerizedOnline.com, MetsMinors.net and Contributor for Hardballchat.com that spanned from 2010 to 2014. David made his MLB Debut as a writer in June 2014, while covering the NY Mets at Citi Field, for MetsmerizedOnline.com. David also coaches baseball for ages 13-15, a Babe Ruth League team in his local community. David's passion is coaching the game he loves to the future Legends of Tomorrow as well as making available a website that people can have fun sharing and reading. David is also passionate about his career as a Mortgage Loan Officer which allows him to help many families reach their dreams of owning a home. Connect with David via his Social Media pages as he loves to chat all about baseball.