For the first time since going AWOL in Boston on Aug. 17 and later being placed on the injured list with a knee issue, Ketel Marte is in the Arizona Diamondbacks‘ lineup. The D-backs activated Marte off the injured list on Monday and he is in the lineup for the series opener with the Philadelphia Phillies, playing second base and batting cleanup.
“It’s a moment of frustration,” Marte said on Monday about leaving the team in Boston. “… I get along really well with (manager Torey Lovullo). In that instance, I failed him by not showing up. That morning I woke up, my body was in pain. No one made the decision for me. I’m the one who made the decision not to be there.”
While on the injured list, Marte was spotted at a local casino at the same time the D-backs played a home game at Chase Field. Players on the injured list generally are not required to stay with the team or be in the dugout during games. At that point in his recovery, Marte was rehabbing his knee at the team’s spring training complex early in the day.
Lovullo asked D-backs fans for patience with Marte — “Ketel is complex,” Lovullo said on Monday — though the manager did acknowledge this is the fourth consecutive season Marte has missed a game without permission. Marte said he intends to speak to his teammates, and Lovullo added that he must do so as a group, not just individually.
“I’m going to feel even better when I address my teammates, little by little,” Marte said. “I’ve already done so with some of my teammates and I’m going to do that again in front of everybody … Ask for forgiveness.”
This is not the first time Marte has frustrated his teammates. He was away from the D-backs after his home was broken into during last year’s All-Star break, plus there has also been criticism about his penchant for requesting days off. Marte had started 116 of the team’s 125 games before going AWOL in Boston.
Marte, 32, is having a down season by his standards. He finished third in the MVP voting in 2024 and was an All-Star the last two years. Marte was in trade rumors all offseason, though Arizona was unable to work out a deal. He gained full no-trade protection as a 10-and-5 player (10 years in MLB, including the last five with the same team) in April.
Any discontent with Marte has not stopped the D-backs from signing him to contract extensions. He inked a seven-year extension worth $116.5 million last April that includes a $11.5 million player option for the 2031 season. That was the third time Arizona extended Marte. The front office previously signed him to five-year deals in 2018 and 2023.
“He’s an extremely talented player,” GM Mike Hazen recently told The Athletic about sticking with Marte through the drama. “At some point, there’s a balance between what you are willing to deal with to get a level of production that can win you baseball games. We’re in the business of winning baseball games.”
The D-backs enter play Monday with a 73-65 record. They are percentage points ahead of the NL West rival San Diego Padres for the third wild-card spot.
