JD Martinez’s New York Mets debut is going to have to wait a bit longer as manager Carlos Mendoza said on Sunday that the veteran slugger is dealing with overall body soreness. He will not debut in this week’s upcoming series in Atlanta against the Braves, which had been the hope over the past few days.
“He’s feeling it body-wise,” Mendoza said. “Quick ramp-up, a lot of at-bats on the backfield. Now that he’s started playing real games where he has to go through his route, start sitting down, waiting for his at-bats… he’s kind of finding that routine… It’s going to take him a little bit longer.”
Mendoza added that the team will “see where he is next week,” meaning a debut for their returns series next weekend against the Kansas City Royals at Citi Field appears in jeopardy, too.
The 36-year-old designated hitter signed with the Mets just one week before the start of the regular season and has been participating in an abbreviated spring training. On Thursday, the team announced that he would join its Single-A affiliate in Port St. Lucie, FL for minor-league games
Following Mendoza’s initial hope during the Mets’ opening series against the Milwaukee Brewers that Martinez would join the team as soon as Sunday’s series finale against the Cincinnati Reds, expectations were tempered — the first-year manager said “Everything is on the table,” on Thursday. That meant prescribing a 50/50 chance that the All-Star would debut in Atlanta.
The Mets’ offense has struggled through the early portions of the season. DJ Stewart got a first crack at the DH role more as a placeholder until Martinez’s arrival, but he failed to recapture the magic from his torrid run down the stretch of last season.
Once the 2018 World Series winner is ready to go, he will bolster the middle of the Mets’ lineup behind Pete Alonso.
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