This story was excerpted from Tim Stebbins’ Guardians Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
DETROIT -- Angel Martínez was thrilled to be recognized on Monday as the third Guardians player to win American League Player of the Week honors this season, amid his continued stellar stretch at the plate. He's also taking it as motivation to not grow complacent and to keep working.
“I’m just very happy,” Martínez said Monday afternoon at Comerica Park. “It just gives me a lot of energy to keep going and to keep focusing through the season.”
Martínez went on to go 2-for-5 with an RBI single in the Guardians’ 8-2 win over the Tigers in the opener of a four-game series.
Martínez has been one of the best storylines for the Guardians so far this season; the 24-year-old has continued to show signs that we’re witnessing his breakout. This past week, he hit .368 (7-for-19) with one double, four home runs, seven RBIs and three stolen bases.
Martínez was tied for the MLB lead in home runs this past week, and he was tied for the AL lead in extra-base hits. He entered Monday having gone deep in four of his past five games, and he had logged an RBI in a career-best six straight games. That marked the longest streak by a Cleveland player 24 or younger since Grady Sizemore (six games, May 18-24, 2006).
“I don't like to get too high because then the focus goes away,” Martínez said. “But it feels pretty special, that all the work that I've been putting in is finally showing up.”
That’s been a constant refrain from Martínez this season and something he has continued to point to as a key to his success. He knows he’s had some, but also that it doesn’t guarantee him anything ahead. Alternatively, if he goes through a down stretch, he doesn’t get hung up on it.
“Just set my mind to always focus on the next pitch, the next game,” Martínez said. “That’s it.”
Martínez entered Monday slashing .266/.312/.510 with eight doubles, nine home runs and eight stolen bases. It’s been a remarkable step forward from 2025, when he slashed .224/.269/.359 with 23 doubles, 11 home runs and eight steals over 139 games. There's a lot of season left, but at his current rate he could challenge for a 30-30 season.
Stephen Vogt was thrilled by Martínez getting recognized on Monday. Part of the Guardians manager's message to Martínez was in a similar vein as the mentality the outfielder is carrying during his own success: Let’s keep it going.
“It's so cool. I'm so happy for Angel,” Vogt said. “He's worked so hard to get where he is. The reality is that if you don't earn tomorrow, it goes away. That's the message for all of our young players. Angel specifically, I feel like he and I have such a good relationship.
“[The message is] like, ‘Cool, good for you. I'm really happy for you, but let's keep going. It's been two months. Let's turn this into six months and then turn it into 10 years.’ And you do that by earning it today for tomorrow. Angel’s been doing that.”
Martínez’s locker in Detroit is directly next to Ramírez -- who’s won AL Player of the Week nine times in his career, including on April 19 this season. Their lockers are often aligned that way, including at Progressive Field. Ramírez has taken Martínez under his wing, and Martínez said the likely future Hall of Famer is a mentor to him.
Martínez and Ramírez trained together in Cleveland and in the Dominican Republic this winter. If there’s perhaps one person who saw Martínez’s start to this season coming, it’s Ramírez.
“I’m not surprised with Martínez,” Ramírez said through team interpreter Agustin Rivero over the weekend. “I know what his ceiling is, and I know he’s going to be that type of player. I'm not surprised by what he's doing. I knew he was capable of that."