The Cuban catcher Ariel Martínez responded assertively to criticisms regarding his performance with the Cuba team in an interview with the podcast "El Palco," published on April 14 on the channel of YouTube "All in 1 Deportes".
The Matancera ballplayer, who plays in the Japanese professional league (NPB) for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters, was questioned about the "San Benito" he carries on social media regarding his lack of hitting and the belief that his presence on the national team is due to other factors.
"People talk so much, talk so much. And people have the right to tell you whatever they want, and they have their reasons. I respect that, because honestly, in the tournament I participated in, I didn't achieve any results," admitted Martínez, acknowledging the criticism but clarifying the context in which he was judged.
The receiver explained that his exposure with the Cuba team has been very limited. He has only participated in four major events, and in the first one, the Premier 12 in 2019, he did not play any innings due to being very young.
Martínez pointed out that a large part of the public opinion judged him for his performance in the playoffs of the National Series during the pandemic period, where he barely hit two or three times before having to return to Japan: "Now people say: 'He's no good'. And that's when I left."
In the 2023 World Classic, where Cuba reached the semifinals, Martínez hit just .083 in twelve at-bats, something he acknowledged openly: "The World Classic was the first event where I had a significant role, and as a catcher, from the moment I started playing as a catcher, Cuba didn't lose another game, and we made it as far as we did, to the semifinals."
At the 2024 Premier 12, he also did not have good batting numbers, although he argued that the stadium was "super uncomfortable for hitting" and that the special defensive formations took away four or five hits from him. "I hit really well at the Premier and the special formations they used against me took away four or five hits, and I would have batted four hundred anyway," he noted.
However, in the 2026 World Classic, held in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Martínez was Cuba's standout batter with an average of .462 (six out of 13 at-bats), an OBP of .563, an OPS of 1.255, one home run with three RBIs against Colombia, and a total of four RBIs.
Despite his outstanding individual performance, Cuba was eliminated in the group stage with a record of two wins and two losses, marking the first time in the tournament's history that the Cuban team did not advance beyond that round.
Martínez also criticized the team's composition in that Classic: "The team was very poorly constructed; they only brought one and a half outfielders," and revealed that from the early practices in Nicaragua, he already sensed the outcome: "Inside, I said to myself: 'We're not going to beat anyone.'"
The player also pointed out the influence of social media on technical decisions: "When people on Facebook started suggesting the lineup, the next day the director would go with the same lineup that appeared on those programs."
"People start talking, but I was right, I didn't hit, I didn't hit, and I have to accept that. And now the Classic is coming and look, I hit, yes, I hit four hundred something," Martínez concluded, acknowledging his previous struggles but asserting that his most recent performance is the strongest response to his critics.
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