After a rather slow start to the 2011 season, Victor Martinez now finds himself on the 15-day disabled list with a sore right groin. The injury first surfaced on Saturday when he tweaked his groin in his last at-bat against the Athletics.

On Monday, Martinez was lifted in the second inning after feeling the muscle strain during his first at-bat. He limped to first base on a single and struggled to reach second base on a Brennan Boesch single.

Cold weather conditions are a major contributor to injuries in the early portion of the season and that seems to be the case seems to be the case for Martinez. Early reports indicate that he will return after the minimum 15 days are reached, which should have owners giving a sigh of relief that the injury was a strain and not a tear.

So what does this mean in terms of fantasy?

Well for starters, Martinez was one of only a few players in fantasy that can classify as catcher without actually being his team’s catcher, with the others being Jorge Posada and Mike Napoli. Second, power is hard to come by on the waiver-wire especially at the catcher position, so if owners think they will find an equivalent to Martinez, think again.

Chances are Posada and Napoli unavailable, so now V-Mart owners will need to search the scrap heap to find a serviceable catcher. With that said, here are some short-term catchers that may be available in fantasy leagues to invest in:

Nick Hundley (SD): Currently supporting a .340 batting average, Hundley is a solid fill-in for the time being. His current numbers will likely not stick, but he has hit three home runs with nine RBIs and 10 runs through the first few weeks of the season, which is a good start.

Alex Avila (DET): Avila is off to a hot start in his first season as the Tigers full-time backstop. He has been an early surprise so far in the power categories, three home runs with 10 RBIs, and will get consistent at-bats in the Tigers lineup.

Ramon Hernandez (CIN): Although Hernandez is currently in a timeshare with fellow-catcher Ryan Hanigan, he is still worth owning in the short-term. He is currently batting .324 in 34 at-bats and has shown flashes of power, hitting two home runs.

Chris Ianetta (COL): Ianetta is coming off of a five-RBI week and has shown flashes of power in the past. He will hurt likely hurt you in batting average (.200 BA through 14 games in 2011), but it is only a short-term option and the power stats are needed with V-Mart on the shelf.

Hank Conger (LAA): Conger has a .333 batting average with two home runs and seven RBIs through eight games in a timeshare with Jeff Mathis. He is currently out-hitting Mathis, so only time will tell with the role will become his full-time.

Matthew Beck is a Fantasy Sports Columnist for Rotoinfo.com. If you have any questions or comments feel free to e-mail him at matthewbeck@rotoinfo.com.  Also follow him on Twitter @MatthewRBeck for up-to-date Q&A and fantasy information.

Tags: Detroit Tigers, Fantasy, Fantasy Baseball, Victor Martinez

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 20th, 2011 at 3:50 pm and is filed under Fantasy Baseball. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.