Pirates catcher Russell Martin has a dream. It’s a cockeyed dream for a catcher but it’s one that might come to fruition.  Martin wants to play shortstop -- yes, shortstop -- in the World Baseball Classic. As crazy as that sounds, on the talent-thin Canadian team, that might work out for the Ontario-born Martin.


By Jon Paul Morosi, FoxSports.com
       
Bradenton, Fla. -- Russell Martin is a catcher. He’s a good one, too, beginning his first season as a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Martin, 30, has played nearly 1,000 games in the major leagues — not one as a shortstop. But that’s probably going to be his position when he suits up for Canada at next month’s World Baseball Classic.

    “It’s hilarious, the reactions I get,” Martin said Monday at the Pirates’ spring complex. “It’s like, ‘This guy’s a catcher. He wants to play shortstop.’ ”

    Martin hasn’t started a regular-season game on the infield since 2008, as a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers. That was at third base. But Canada doesn’t have a major leaguer with meaningful experience at shortstop. So, Martin could be as good an option as anyone else. (Chris Robinson, a minor leaguer with Baltimore, is the other catcher on Canada’s provisional roster.)

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