Los Angeles Dodgers: The overlooked impact of Russell Martin

The Los Angeles Dodgers once again surprised the fans when the team traded for former catcher Russell Martin, who will have an overlooked impact in 2019.

The Los Angeles Dodgers made one of the best moves last offseason in a move that appeared to just be a salary dump: trading for a former friend and all-star Matt Kemp.

This offseason, the Dodgers could see lightning strike twice as the front office traded for a former friend and all-star, Russell Martin. The only difference this time being it was not a salary dump and instead was a move to replace all-star catcher Yasmani Grandal, who signed a one-year contract with the Brewers.

Martin is not viewed as a huge signing and really is just viewed as another option to field alongside Austin Barnes. Neither Barnes or Martin is as good as Grandal when he is not ice cold, but the two of them are more than enough for the Dodgers.

There are some positives about Martin that the fans have realized: he is still a great defender and is an elite pitch framer, something Grandal was great at despite his fielding being sub-par. Martin might not be the most consistent in racking up base hits either but he does have the fifth-best on-base percentage among catchers over the last five seasons.

Better than Grandal and the other catching target that the team was in on, J.T. Realmuto.

Even with those positives in mind, there is still an overlooked impact that Martin is going to have on this team.

To be more precise, the impact is going to be on Clayton Kershaw.

To say that Grandal held Kershaw back would be unfair. Kershaw had good numbers with Grandal behind the plate and his pitch framing was great. However, his numbers did start to take a hit once A.J. Ellis was traded.

Having just Barnes and any other young catcher as the backup might not have been the best outlook for a veteran pitcher like Kershaw. Kershaw does not have the 95 miles per hour fastball that he had before and calling a perfect game behind the plate is critical to Kershaw’s success.

Kershaw obviously has a lot of say in how a game is called but making sure that the two are on the same wavelength is extremely important. That would be harder for Kershaw and Barnes to discover.

Martin and Kershaw obviously have some familiarity, even though Kershaw did not even have his slider last time Martin caught him. Having that familiarity, though, is going to be huge in the dog days of summer when Kershaw is making his 20th start of the year.

Having consistency and having someone you are already comfortable with is huge for a pitcher, as trivial as it may sound. Add in the fact that Kershaw paints the corners like nobody else, and Martin is an elite framer, and it is naturally a great fit.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the Dodgers brought in Martin to serve as Kershaw’s personal catcher for the 2019 season, with one other start the other four days.

Heck, I wouldn’t even be surprised if part of the discussion between Kershaw and the Los Angeles Dodgers included Kershaw asking the team to bring in a veteran catcher that he is familiar with if Grandal did indeed leave.

It might not be A.J. Ellis but Russell Martin is the next best thing; plus, he is much better offensively.