J.D. Martinez has not played a game for the Los Angeles Dodgers since August 6 against the San Diego Padres as he recovers from a left groin/adductor injury that he’s been dealing with for the past few weeks.
Martinez was scratched from the Dodgers lineup three times since the end of July. He’s made just 10 plate appearances since July 30. The Dodgers previously said Martinez was dealing with left hamstring/groin tightness.
The 35-year-old underwent an MRI and received an epidural last week to help manage the injury, and since then he has just been waiting for the shot to fully take effect.
Although Martinez has missed more than a week, the Dodgers have refused to put him on the 10-day injured list, instead choosing to carry him on their active roster.
“I think with J.D. in this situation, it just doesn’t seem like an IL would make sense, because he’s not in the field and it’s not a workload thing,” manager Dave Roberts explained. “It’s just more of some days he’ll come in and feel good and other days it’s almost like it’s debilitating.
“So after that epidural, we feel it takes a few days and he should be good to go.”
Another issue the Dodgers and Martinez have faced is they aren’t exactly sure what’s causing the injury that has affected different parts of his body, so there is no real answer on how to manage it.
“Part of it is just the wear and tear of a Major League Baseball player,” Roberts said. “And when you’re talking about the core, the back, hips, there’s certain things that just trigger it. It’s not from lack of preparation. We don’t know the answer.”
That has caused frustration for Martinez, and it may just end up being something they have to manage as it comes up.
“A lot of it is out of his control and our control,” Roberts said. “I know that he cares a lot and is frustrated because he’s doing everything he can to stay on the field, but at certain times it hasn’t happened.
So I think that’s something we’re going to continue to deal with, but I’m still positive with this epidural, we’re going to get past it.”
J.D. Martinez expected to return Tuesday
Martinez does appear to be closing in on a return to the lineup with the injection taking effect, and thankfully for him and the team, the injury won’t worsen by playing.
“So the hope is knowing that from the doctors, we can’t do anything worse to it, that’s why we did the epidural to hopefully mask it and allow him to participate,” Roberts said.
Martinez was available on Sunday as a pinch-hitter, but he did not enter the game. The expectation is he will return to the Dodgers lineup on Tuesday against the Milwaukee Brewers following the off day on Monday.
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