"There are six minor league catchers in the Tigers' spring-training camp. On Friday night, Victor Martinez took all six to dinner.

He also took his major league catching mate, Alex Avila, and the team's bullpen catcher, Scott Pickens. They all went to a restaurant in Orlando.

Martinez said he held the catchers' dinner because "we're family here."

Camp isn't even a week old and Martinez has given the young catchers an indication of why so many people in baseball rave about him as a person and as a teammate.

"The most important thing for me is to make us feel like this is home," Martinez said. "We're a big family."

One of the minor league catchers in the dinner party was manager Jim Leyland's son, Pat.

"It was a great dinner," Pat Leyland said. "There was some baseball talked, but it wasn't a question-and-answer session with Victor. It was just a dinner. Everyone was talking to everyone."