Dave Martinez

David Martinez (born September 26, 1964) is an American professional baseball coach and former outfielder who is the manager for the Washington Nationals of Major League Baseball (MLB).

He previously served as the bench coach for the Tampa Bay Rays and Chicago Cubs.

He played on the school's baseball team, which won the Five Star Conference championship in 1981.

He then enrolled at Valencia Community College, where he played college baseball.

The Chicago Cubs selected Martinez in the January phase of the 1983 Major League Baseball draft.

After he signed, he played for the Geneva Cubs of the Class A-Short Season New York–Penn League and the Quad Cities Cubs of the Class A Midwest League.

He began the 1984 season with Quad Cities, and in 1985, he received a promotion to the Winston-Salem Spirits of the Class A-Advanced Carolina League.

Martinez led the Carolina League with a .342 batting average; the second-place finishers, Keith Miller and John Wilson, batted .302.

He played in MLB for the Cubs, Montreal Expos, Cincinnati Reds, San Francisco Giants, Chicago White Sox, Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Texas Rangers, Toronto Blue Jays, and Atlanta Braves from 1986 to 2001.

Martinez had a .276 career batting average, 1,599 hits, 91 home runs, 795 runs scored, and 580 runs batted in.

Martinez began the 1986 season with the Iowa Cubs of the Class AAA American Association.

The Cubs promoted Martinez to the major leagues for the first time on June 15, 1986, and he served as an injury replacement for Bob Dernier.

He had a .119 batting average (8-for-67) before he was optioned back to the minor leagues in August.

Martinez made the Cubs major league roster in 1987, splitting time in center field with Dernier.

He batted .292 in 142 games.

Martinez struggled in the 1988 season, batting .230 in mid-June.

On July 14, 1988, Martinez was traded to the Montreal Expos in exchange for Mitch Webster.

He finished 1988 with a .255 batting average and 23 stolen bases.

Martinez was pegged as a platoon player in Montreal, as he batted against right-handed pitchers and sat against left-handed pitchers.

The Expos also had outfielders Otis Nixon, Marquis Grissom, and Larry Walker on their roster.

He played 126 games in 1989, hitting .274.

In 1990, Martinez lost the competition for the center field job to Grissom.

However, Grissom was injured, and Martinez platooned with Nixon in center field.

Martinez batted .279 with 11 home runs in 118 games in 1990.

He batted .295 in 1991.

After the 1991 season, the Expos traded Martinez with Willie Greene and Scott Ruskin to the Cincinnati Reds for Bill Risley and John Wetteland.

He was sought out as a replacement for Eric Davis for the Reds.

He competed with Reggie Sanders for the starting job during spring training.

Martinez played for Cincinnati in 1992, but as Sanders established himself as the Reds' starting center fielder, Martinez declared for free agency after the season.

Born in Brooklyn, New York, to Puerto Rican parents, Martinez lived at East 93rd Street and Lexington Avenue in Manhattan.

He then lived in Brentwood, New York and played little league for BYA (Brentwood Youth Activities).

At age 13, his family moved to Orlando, Florida, at the recommendation of one of his uncles.

Martinez attended Lake Howell High School in Winter Park, Florida.

He signed with the San Francisco Giants on a two-year contract for the 1993 and 1994 seasons.

He suffered a torn hamstring in 1993 and was limited to 91 games.

He hit .241, his lowest average in several seasons.

The Giants waived Martinez in October 1994 after he was held to a .247 average, four home runs and 27 runs batted in (RBIs).

Martinez became the bench coach for the Rays in 2008, under manager Joe Maddon.

When Maddon became manager of the Cubs after the 2014 season, Martinez joined him there as bench coach.

The Nationals hired Martinez as their manager after the 2017 season, and he led the team to a 2019 World Series championship in his second season.