Jerry Crasnick has a pointless article up on ESPN.com that, truthfully, is about as good as a guy can do when assigned this kind of topic by his editors (this is true of much of Crasnick’s writing, which, for standard I-talked-to-so-and-so fluff, is really quite good.) Let’s talk about that #1 guy for a moment.

A few facts about Russell Martin:

  • Russell Martin is 24 years old. He’s in his second season in the major leagues.
  • Russell Martin is among the three or four best catchers in the world. Did I mention he’s only 24?
  • The Dodgers have played 120 games. Martin has played catcher in 108 of them. That’s a pace that will have him playing 146 games at catcher. The Dodgers are in a pennant race, so it’s not like they’re going to rest him more down the stretch. More likely they’ll rest him less.

146 games of playing catcher is a lot. It’s not inhuman or anything–Mike Piazza caught precisely that number of games as a rookie in 1993, and precisely that number again in 1996–but the list of guys who caught that many games at that young an age is short. Catching is very hard on one’s knees and back.

Russell Martin’s presence atop Jerry Crasnick’s list of baseball tough guys just brings warm feelings to my heart, and I’m sure yours too. And if Uncle Ned’s goal all along was to increase Martin’s exposure by getting him to the #1 spot on one of Crasnick’s gimmicky top-9 lists in the middle of August… mission accomplished!

Of course, if Uncle Ned’s goals in any way incorporate winning baseball games in 2008 or 2009 or 2011 or anything, he may want to read the line, “We became acquainted with Martin’s toughness last September, watching him walk into the Dodgers’ clubhouse with a stiffer gait than the Tin Woodsman in the ‘Wizard of Oz’,” have himself a good laugh, and then give Martin a day off now and again, for heaven’s sake. The abuse of Martin is even more puzzling when you consider that it’s not like the Dodgers have Lou Gehrig manning first base.

Maybe Uncle Ned’s real scheme involves seeing Martin get hurt, so he can have one more excuse to hate all players younger than 33 and trade them all out of his franchise as quickly as possible. More likely it involves a manager that just isn’t paying attention. You’ll never guess who the Dodgers’ manager is. Grady Little! Can you believe he wouldn’t be paying attention?