“I’ve never been so excited about a season,” Martinez said he told them.

The Astros noticed the adjustments but did not know if Martinez would stick with them, because he had tinkered with his swing before. He was 26 years old and already had nearly 1,000 plate appearances in the majors. He played sparingly in spring training.

It turned out, though, that Martinez had no plans to go back to his old ways. He had discovered a swing that would unlock his potential, he believed, allowing him to get fooled by a pitch and still hit it.

“When your bat’s in the zone longer, you don’t have to be as precise when you hit the ball,” Martinez said. “I’m also more in rhythm. When I hit the ball, there’s more energy going into it.

“Before, I’d get my foot down early and just use my hands, and my power was to left and left-center; I had to pull it because my hands did all the work. Now that I’m getting my legs into it, more balls I hit to right are starting to go out.”

In the ninth inning in Cleveland last Tuesday, Martinez crushed a three-run homer just to the right of center field to give the Tigers a comeback victory over the Indians. The Tigers are fighting for a playoff spot, but no matter how far they advance, Martinez will have experienced it before.

Despite having played for the Astros, Martinez is a postseason veteran. He grew up in South Florida, and when he was 10, he saw Edgar Renteria drive in the winning run for the Marlins in Game 7 of the 1997 World Series against Cleveland.

“I was way up in right center field, next to God,” Martinez said. “You could feel the vibration of the entire stadium. I thought it was going to collapse.”