By Ashley Dunkak
@AshleyDunkak

CBS DETROIT - Last season, Detroit Tigers outfielder J.D. Martinez was the surprise feel-good story of baseball and one of the hottest hitters in the game. This season, he got off to a powerful start, with five home runs in the first 11 games, but since then his bat has cooled, and Wednesday he was dropped from the fifth spot in the lineup to the sixth, replaced by fellow outfielder Yoenis Cespedes.

Going into this week's series against the Chicago White Sox, Martinez was 4-for-24 in the previous six games, with a batting average of .167 and an on-base percentage of .200. He had walked once and struck out 13 times in that span. After he went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts in Tuesday's series opener against the White Sox, manager Brad Ausmus decided to move him to the sixth spot in the lineup.

In Wednesday's game, Martinez walked three times, almost more than he had all season (four), but Ausmus elected to have him bat sixth again Thursday.

After his unprecedented production last season, many - including the Tigers - expected Martinez would eventually come back to earth. Detroit brought him in for his power, so it was simply a bonus that last season he delivered an impressive batting average of .315 in addition to 56 extra-base hits.

Through 27 games this season, Martinez has a batting average of .226 and an on-base percentage of .274. Half of his 24 hits have gone for extra bases - six home runs and six doubles.

Cespedes, who is now batting fifth, has a .296 average and an American League-high 10 doubles.