The Dodgers announced Tuesday that slugger J.D. Martinez has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to a groin injury. Infielder Michael Busch has been recalled from Triple-A Oklahoma City to take his spot on the active roster.
Martinez, who turned 36 yesterday, has been hobbled by tightness in his groin recently and hasn’t been in the lineup since Aug. 19. The Dodgers can thus backdate his placement on the IL a couple of days. Even a short-term absence for Martinez removes one of the most potent bats from the Los Angeles lineup, as Martinez has had a resurgent season in the power department, batting .256/.309/.547 with 25 big flies and 23 doubles in 390 plate appearances. He also missed about two weeks earlier this season, owing to discomfort in his lower back.
While Martinez has found some renewed pop after hitting “just” 16 home runs in 2022, the uptick in power has come at the expense of some contact. Martinez’s 31.3% strikeout rate is the highest mark of his career, while his 7.2% walk rate is his lowest since 2014. It’s been a worthwhile trade-off in the aggregate, and Martinez’s career-high 93.1 mph exit velocity and 54.5% hard-hit rate speak to the legitimacy of his restored power.
Martinez is playing the season on a one-year, $10MM deal he agreed to over the winter after wrapping up a five-year, $110MM deal in Boston. He’ll be a free agent again at season’s end.
Busch, 25, entered the season ranked as one of the game’s top 100 prospects but hasn’t found much success in limited MLB opportunities thus far. He’s tallied 51 plate appearances and recorded a tepid .200/.294/.267 batting line with a 31.4% strikeout rate in that time. He’s obliterated Triple-A pitching in Oklahoma City, though, mashing at a .323/.432/.615 clip and swatting 24 home runs in 424 trips to the plate. Strikeouts haven’t been an issue in OKC like they have in the big leagues; Busch has fanned in just 18.9% of his minor league plate appearances this year and countered that with a huge 14.4% walk rate.
Busch can step up and take some of Martinez’s temporarily vacated DH at-bats, and he’ll also give the Dodgers an option at second base, third base, first base or in left field. The former No. 31 overall pick has been primarily a second baseman but has 585 innings at third base, 159 innings at first base and 132 innings in left field in his professional career.
I completely forgot he even left the Red Sox lol
Boston and LA basically swapped Justin Turner and JD Martinez and it has worked out quite well for both players.
JD always seemed like an underrated player to me. He was wel worth his contract with Boston and he’s still putting up respectable numbers given his age
Agreed. Only thing is the Dodgers miss using the DH like last season for players who need a day off, but swing a good bat. Will Smith needs a day or two, but with Barnes its tough.
Both players and both teams. Both have the same OPS+, with the RS getting the flexibility they desperately needed.
OK Michael. Here’s your shot. Make it count.
The one that got away from the Astros
This will finally make the Busch fans happy. Hopefully he will contribute this time up. I haven’t been overly impressed with him when he was given an opportunity earlier in the year.
This is probably the worst Dodgers team of the last decade and yet they still sit in their customary place, comfortably atop the NL West.
This team still has two MVPs and two all stars at the top 4 of the order. I’d say this group is easily better than 13, 14, 15, 16, 19
Just pitching alone makes that a rather dubious, doubtful statement. This is easily the worst Dodger pitching I’ve seen in years….
Currently on a 100 win pace. From those other seasons:
2019: 106
2016: 91
2015: 92
2014: 94
2013: 92
The meltdowns of the other teams in the division sure helped, especially the Padres.
The NL West is a trash fire. It’s always been a trash fire. That’s how they were able to win 105+ games a year so often. Easy when half your schedule is against the flotsam & jetsam of their devision.
With each team playing fewer games within its own division, and every team playing all of the 29 others, your argument doesn’t now work. Why are they winning so many games THIS year, with the new schedule steucture?
Michael Busch has been on fire. This opportunity is so well deserved. He has a real chance to be on a postseason roster if anyone is hurt.
The most obvious candidates to sub at DH before plugging Busch into that role are Smith and Muncy.
That sucks. Was looking forward to seeing JD’s return to Fenway this weekend
There’s always gonna be Brazier and Kike’
They’re playing all of 6 less games per division mate. It’s still 52 games. Read the comment again dude. It starts in present tense and then shifts to past tense – it’s not hard to parse.