Martinez's injury shouldn't cause concern

August 18th, 2023

This story was excerpted from Juan Toribio’s Dodgers Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

LOS ANGELES -- About an hour before first pitch on Thursday, the Dodgers announced they had made a change to their lineup. For the fourth time in a month, All-Star designated hitter  was scratched with a groin injury.

Over the last few weeks, the Dodgers have tried to find the root of the problem for Martinez. After getting scratched in Arizona, Martinez flew back to Los Angeles to get an epidural on his back to see if that would prevent the injury from flaring up again.

After that shot, Martinez sat out for nearly a week. The Dodgers wanted to give him enough time to heal. But after just two games this week, the injury -- albeit much less severe than it has been the last few times -- crept up again right as he finished batting practice.

“Frustrated,” Martinez said. “I’m confident it’s not my back anymore. … It’s obviously frustrating because I was excited to get back out there and all of a sudden it just flares up again. It wasn’t as bad, but I felt it in my second to last swing in batting practice. We were just being cautious with it.”

Martinez said the root of his frustration is that there hasn’t been a way to identify exactly why it keeps happening. The good news is Martinez believes it’s an adductor injury, which maybe helps him and the Dodgers give it the necessary maintenance the rest of the way.

Also, the good news is that Martinez believes he should be back in the lineup on Friday when the Dodgers host the Marlins at Dodger Stadium. The concerning part, however, is that it keeps happening to Martinez and maybe it’s something that could come into play when the games matter most in October.

“If it was September, I would be like ‘I gotta tough it out,’” Martinez said. “But we have some time now and I want to be ready for the stretch down the road. I’m going to be positive with it. It feels great now, we’ll see how it feels tomorrow and try to build from it. There’s nothing we can do.”

The Dodgers haven’t placed Martinez on the injured list each of the three previous times this injury has popped up and don’t expect that to happen this time around. They wouldn’t want to be without Martinez for a few weeks unless both parties believe it is necessary. If Martinez doesn’t improve over the weekend, maybe that’s a conversation they’ll have.

If that conversation does come up, the Dodgers have a few options in the Minors, especially Michael Busch, the Dodgers’ No. 2 prospect per MLB Pipeline. Busch has been on a tear in the Minors this season, hitting 23 homers and posting a 1.025 OPS. Calling up Miguel Vargas could also be an option for the Dodgers, but they still want to see improved changes to his swing before giving him another shot in the Majors.

Whatever the club does remains to be seen. But with a large lead in the National League West, the most important thing for the Dodgers is to be healthy going into October. And if they want to make a deep run, they’ll need Martinez hitting cleanup on a nightly basis.

Did you like this story?