Russell Martin

Who is Russell Martin?

Russell Nathan Jeanson Coltrane Martin, Jr. is a Canadian professional baseball catcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates of Major League Baseball. He has previously played for the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees. He is a three-time MLB All-Star. In 2007, he won the Gold Glove Award and Silver Slugger Award.

Martin became the everyday catcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers immediately upon his MLB debut in 2006, and continued in that role for nearly five years. His offensive and defensive performance earned wide accolades during his first three years, but they diminished significantly in 2009 and 2010; Martin spent the last two months of 2010 on the disabled list. After the Dodgers declined to offer him arbitration in 2011, he signed with the Yankees and succeeded Jorge Posada as the Yankees' everyday catcher.

In November 2012, Martin signed a two-year free agent contract with the Pirates and took over the team's everyday catcher duties.