Eric Martins made his debut on a Major League coaching staff in 2020 as the A’s assistant hitting coach. This is Martins’ 21st season in the A’s organization, which includes seven years as a minor league player, seven years as an area scout and five years as a minor league hitting coach. Martins’ player development and coaching career began in 2015 when he was named hitting coach for Double-A Midland. He was promoted to Triple-A Nashville in 2016 and spent three seasons with the Sounds before moving west to Las Vegas in 2019 when the A’s switched Triple-A affiliates. Prior to coaching, Martins spent seven seasons as an A’s area scout in Southern California from 2007-2014. During that time, he started 5 Tool Players and constructed the first Southern California A’s Scout Team roster in the fall of 2007; It continues on in the present day owned, managed and operated by Steve Doherty. Eric was responsible for signing A.J. Griffin, Daniel Robertson, and 2014 first-round selection Matt Chapman, among others.
Originally a 17th round selection by Oakland in the 1994 draft, Martins hit .276 with 21 home runs and 262 RBI in 661 games over seven seasons in the A’s farm system from 1994-2000. He was named to the Northwest League All-Star Team in 1994 after hitting .324 in his professional debut. The former infielder was part of the 1997 Edmonton team that captured the Pacific Coast League Championship and the 1999 Vancouver club that won the Triple-A World Series. Martins also played for Long Beach of the independent Western League (2001-02), Somerset of the independent Atlantic League (2003) and Nettuno in Italy (2004).
A graduate of La Serna High School (’90) in Southern California, Martins attended Long Beach State. He was signed by Ed Crosby.
Martins lives in Mesa, Ariz., with his wife, Madison.