Mariano Rivera says Edgar Martinez was the toughest batter he ever faced

Mariano Rivera says Edgar Martinez was the toughest batter he ever faced

Rivera said: "I think every pitcher will say that, because this man was tough."

I'm not surprised to hear that.

Edgar had a lifetime OPS+ of 147.

If you evaluate him as a third baseman, that OPS+ is the same as that of Mike Schmidt, the greatest third baseman in history. It is higher than Chipper Jones (141) or Eddie Mathews (143).

Compare Edgar to George Brett, a great hitter and another third baseman:

OBP: Edgar .418, Brett .369
SLG: Edgar .515, Brett .487
OPS+: Edgar 147, Brett 135

Edgar also has a higher career OBP and a higher slugging average than Wade Boggs, another third baseman who could hit a bit, and whose claim to fame was his ability to get on base - less often than Edgar!

I'm fully aware that Edgar only played 500-some games at 3B, but you could reasonably argue that he's the best-hitting third baseman of all time, or at least #2 behind Schmidt!

Speaking of on-base percentage, did you know that Edgar is #21 of all-time? And four of the guys above him played in the 19th century! He got on base more often than Musial or DiMaggio, for example, or almost anyone else you can name. If we consider only those players who have played since WW2, the OBP leaderboard looks like this:

1. Ted Williams
2. Barry Bonds
3. Mickey Mantle
4. The Big Hurt
5. Edgar

If you evaluate Edgar as a DH, there's no sense comparing him to anyone, not even The Big Hurt, who hit only a mediocre .275 as a DH. They named the freakin' "best DH" award after Edgar, fer chrissakes: The Edgar Martínez Outstanding Designated Hitter Award.

I'm not one to place much faith in personal reminiscences, but just in passing I'll add my opinion that Edgar is the best right-handed hitter I've ever observed personally. His swing was so perfect that he generated tremendous power with relaxed movement and average body size (he weighed only 175 when he was in his prime).

At age 37, the man led the league with 145 RBI, and he did it playing in Seattle. Add that to his multiple batting championships and his three OBP championships, and you have what seems to me like a Hall of Fame career, despite the fact that he's only been getting named on 35% of the ballots.

Just sayin'

(Sadly, it seems that his HOF chances are going to decline as memory of him fades, and as obvious first-ballot guys like Maddux and Big Unit get added to the ballot, squeezing others off some writers' lists.)