Martín Maldonado

BIOGRAPHY

Martín Benjamín Maldonado Valdés was born August 16, 1986, in Naguabo, Puerto Rico. He is a catcher in the MLB.

Maldonado signed a minor league contract with the Milwaukee Brewers and played for the West Virginia Power of the Class A South Atlantic League. He played for the Brevard County Manatees of the Class A-Advanced Florida State League and the Huntsville Stars of the Class AA Southern League in 2008.

He began the 2009 season with the Manatees but was called up to the Nashville Sounds of the Class AAA Pacific Coast League at mid-season. However, he returned to the Manatees to finish out the 2009 season. Maldonado played the majority of 2010 with Nashville but also spent time with Huntsville and Brevard County. He made his Major League debut on September 3, 2011, and played in 3 games for the Brewers after his call-up, striking out in his only at-bat.

Maldonado was called up to the Brewers yet again in May 2012 when starting catcher Jonathan Lucroy went down with a freak hand injury due to his wife dropping a suitcase on it. He played 78 games for the Brewers in 2012. He remained in the majors for the 2013 season. Maldonado is known for his involvement in an unusual play in which he hit the cover off the baseball. In a game against the Pittsburgh Pirates on April 18, 2014, Maldonado hit a ground ball to third base. However, by the time Pirates third baseman Pedro Álvarez fielded the ball, the cover had partially come off the baseball and was hanging off the side; Alvarez threw the ball to first anyway, but the ball fell apart in midair, made it to first on several hops, and Maldonado was awarded an infield hit.

On May 31, 2015, Maldonado caught a 17-inning game and also hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 17th against the Arizona Diamondbacks, his first career walk-off home run. On December 13, 2016, Maldonado and Drew Gagnon were traded to the Los Angeles Angels for Jett Bandy. Maldonado was named the starting catcher and played in a career-high 138 games, batting .221 with 14 home runs and 38 RBIs. He won his first Rawlings Gold Glove Award after the 2017 season.

On July 26, 2018, the Angels traded Maldonado to the Houston Astros in exchange for pitcher prospect Patrick Sandoval and international pool space cash. He became a free agent on October 29. The Kansas City Royals signed Maldonado to a one-year, $2.5 million contract on March 11, 2019, following an injury to Salvador Pérez. On July 15, the Royals traded Maldonado to the Chicago Cubs in exchange for left-handed pitcher Mike Montgomery.

Maldonado was Gerrit Cole's personal catcher during this stint. Over 10 starts with Maldonado behind the plate Cole pitched to a 1.57 ERA.

On December 20, 2019, Maldonado signed a two-year deal with the Houston Astros.

In 2022, he batted .186/.248/.352 with 116 strikeouts in 344 at bats, and reached career-highs of 15 home runs and 45 RBI. On defense, Maldonado appeared 113 games, third in the AL among catchers, and ranked third among all AL fielders and led catchers in putouts (1,025), assists (49), passed balls (9), and tied for fifth in baserunners caught stealing (16) as he caught 26% of runners and tied his career high with 46 stolen bases allowed. Astros pitching registered a 2.90 earned run average (ERA), a franchise record over a 162-game season, and the bullpen led the major leagues with a 2.80 ERA.

Following the regular season, Maldonado was recognized with the Darryl Kile Award due to his cooperation with the media following games, providing salient insight and for his handling of one of the most successful pitching staffs in baseball. During the Astros' postseason run to the World Series championship Maldonado started 10 of 13 games.