Port St. Lucie, Fla. — If you didn’t know better, you might’ve thought it was 2016 again watching Victor Martinez take batting practice here Monday.
Batting left-handed in preparation of facing Mets’ right-hander Matt Harvey, he sprayed line drive after line drive into center field and the right-center gap. Nice, comfortable swings, the ball jumping off his bat, a smile on his face and a bounce in his step as he stepped back behind the cage.
Then, on his last swing, he let it fly. The ball soared well beyond the fence and onto the berm in left-center, about 10 feet short of the picnic area.