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.

J. D. Martinez

I love my story. I wouldn't change it. It gives it character. It's never been on a silver spoon.

J. D. Martinez

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

J. D. Martinez

People are always asking if I was mad at Houston. Honestly, I'm not. The truth of the matter is that when I was there, I didn't perform and they actually did me a favor by cutting me loose. They could have really held me there, not let me leave, bury me in Triple-A, put me behind some prospects and I would never even play.

J. D. Martinez

The last thing I wanted to do was get buried in Triple-A behind prospects.

J. D. Martinez

I think my failures in Houston is what made me who I am. I think it's given me that drive, that drive to keep working, because you never know what can happen type deal.

J. D. Martinez

I'm going to tell you right now, no one is harder on me than me. The fact that fans sit there and boo me, I'm booing myself when I'm walking in.

J. D. Martinez

I'm a very analytical guy, I like to study my swing, I like to study what my back foot is doing, my elbow, whatever it might be, and there's a lot of guys nowadays that are like that. That's the trend of the game, that's the way the game has gone.

J. D. Martinez

Everyone here has a right to their own political beliefs and everybody has the right to stand by what they believe in. That's what makes us American.

J. D. Martinez

Everything happens for a reason.

J. D. Martinez

I mean, I learned a lot from Houston. And you know what? It made me who I am and there's really no animosity there. In a sense, they did me a favor by allowing me to leave and going to play on another team.

J. D. Martinez

I think that's one of the things you start learning from being hot and playing every day at the beginning, you know. The league, they made their adjustments and their change to you, the way they pitch you, the way they attack you, and just learning and learning from that and making the adjustments the very next at bat or the very next pitch.

J. D. Martinez

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

J. D. Martinez

Rodney Linares really stuck his neck out in Greenville to play me, because they had their prospects, guys who they had invested money in.

J. D. Martinez

I was able to play alongside, in my opinion, the best hitter with Miguel Cabrera and kind of watch the way he goes about it and the way he looks at situations, when to try to drive a ball versus when to shoot a ball.

J. D. Martinez

I want to win championships.

J. D. Martinez

Let's say I have a new respect for guys who come off the bench every day. That's not easy to do.

J. D. Martinez

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.

J. D. Martinez

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.

J. D. Martinez

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.

J. D. Martinez

I've been on a bunch of teams in my career.

J. D. Martinez