JD Martinez Can't Wait To Pursue His Lifelong Dream About Becoming A Professional Pickleball Player Once He's Done With Baseball
Brandon Sloter. Getty Images.JD Martinez has had a pretty long, illustrious baseball career. He's been in the major leagues for just about 15 years at this point. He's a World Series Champion, a 6x All-Star, and a 3x Silver Slugger Award winner. But like everybody else who has ever picked up a paddle in their life, JD Martinez has been dreaming of the day when he can quit his job and just play pickleball all the time. Professional baseball is just an occupation for this man, but pickleball is his passion. And now he's gearing up for life after baseball, and focusing on becoming a professional pickleball player once that time comes.
JOOLA -- Major League Baseball All-Star and World Series Champion J.D. Martinez brings one of the purest swings in the game of baseball to the sport of pickleball, signing an exclusive deal with JOOLA to prepare to transition to professional pickleball after his baseball career.
“I see pickleball as a sport I’ll be involved in for the long run and JOOLA’s commitment to the sport and my personal growth in the game makes this partnership even more special,” said Martinez.
Now is JD Martinez good enough at pickleball to make it on the pro tour? Honestly I have no idea. Haven't seen him play before. But I do know there are guys who have come from pro tennis who can't even cut it in professional pickleball. Guys like Sam Querrey, who have made it to a semifinal at Wimbledon, is barely a fringe pro when it comes to pickleball. But maybe JD Martinez has his eyes set on playing on the senior circuit. In which case he's not even close to entering his prime yet.
At the end of the day here we have a guy playing Major League Baseball, and all he can think about is how sick it's going to be once he can stop playing baseball all the time so he can just focus on pickleball. Meanwhile, you'll have a bunch of dorks who haven't seen the sun in 3 weeks constantly trying to shit on pickleball any chance they get. Sport of the future, baby. It's only a matter of time before guys like JD Martinez stop waiting for their baseball career to be over before switching gears to pickleball, and just go all in on pickleball from the start.
Sidenote: I would love to know how many professional athletes I could beat in pickleball right now. Guys like Terrell Owens and Dirk, I know I'd destroy them. I'm fairly certain I could take down Larry Fitzgerald right now. I'm pretty sure Golden Tate is a solid player, so that would be a toss up. Again, I haven't seen JD Martinez play. Maybe one day we'll find a way to get all of them together.