J. D. Martinez

“Sometimes you just need a spark, and then boom, boom, boom, now the bats come alive.”

“If I'm ready to hit early, if I get fooled, then whatever. I've still got two more strikes.”

“I had to make baseball work. I threw myself into it.”

“I always talk about it like I'm a hitter first and if I'm doing things right and my body's in the right place, I drive the baseball.”

“When I'm at my best, I'm ready to hit from pitch one. When I go up there and I'm passive, I'm not as successful.”

“It's fun coming to the ballpark when you're winning.”

“I think I'm a funny guy.”

“I want to be on a team that's got a chance. That's what's fun. That's what you play the game for.”

“You can say baseball's fun, you're in the big leagues, you get to come to a Major League field every day - and, yeah, that's great. I love it.”

“Obviously, I'm sad to leave Houston. I love the fans and players and everyone here.”

“There aren't too many Mookie Betts, Mike Trouts or Bryce Harpers out there to be grabbed. Those players only come around once every 10 years.”

“I'd say the challenge of DHing is going to be learning the routine and to stay loose and stay warm and kind of be ready for it.”

“I've always been hungry, but when people ask what drives you - 'How do you stay so driven throughout this whole thing?' - you just don't stop. It's every single day. The people that know me and the people that love me and are in my life see it.”

“I think about my journey sometimes.”

“I busted my butt in '15. Then in '16, I broke my arm running into a wall, so then I got scared of running into walls because I didn't want to get hurt again.”

“I have so many memories of going fishing and camping as a kid, and my dad had season tickets to watch the Marlins - and that's where I fell in love with the game.”

“Learning how to slow the game down is the biggest thing.”

“I had to lower my hands, I had to work my hips a different way. I also had to stride to get the power. I'd always been a standstill hitter and had to generate power from my upper body. Basically, I had to change everything I was doing. It was really difficult.”

“My teammate Torii Hunter taught me how to lead and provide encouragement to the locker room.”

“I stand by the Constitution and I stand by the Second Amendment and it's something that I take pride in. It's something that I'll back up.”