Dodgers News: JD Martinez Not Expected to Go on IL as Injury Lingers

Hopefully, this doesn't linger too much....

It seems that we may be dealing with an ongoing injury with veteran slugger J.D. Martinez. He was scratched from the Dodgers lineup shortly before their game on Thursday against the Milwaukee Brewers.

Martinez has been dealing with groin tightness for quite some time now, and it caused him to miss over a week earlier in the month. He never went to the injured list and still isn’t expected to do so.

The hope has been that if he sits out to rest, it will heal. But the injury seems to be lingering, and the team wants to be cautious with him going forward. Manager Dave Roberts spoke about the veteran player’s injury.

“He wanted to be in there, but I decided that he shouldn’t,” Roberts said. “Where we’re at, where our guys have put us in this position, I just wanted to be more cautiously safe.”

Per SNLA

Martinez has been one of the key players for the Dodgers this season. He is hitting .258 with 25 home runs and 78 runs batted in.

"Austin was fantastic tonight. Just an overall fantastic game by him." Dave Roberts praises AB and the battery tonight against the Brewers. pic.twitter.com/7APa7QQUcP

— SportsNet LA (@SportsNetLA) August 18, 2023

They need his production down the stretch of the season, so they should play this with ease. Martinez himself even acknowledged this fact.

“If it was the end of September, I’d be like, ‘We have to tough it out,’ ” said Martinez. “But we have some time now. And I want to be ready for the stretch down the road. So I’m gonna stay positive with it. It feels great now. So let’s see how it goes tomorrow and just build from there, really.”

Per The LA Times

LA does have the luxury of allowing Martinez to sit out for a few games to heal. But the team also doesn’t want him to lose the momentum that he has built this season. It’s a tricky game to play for Roberts to manage.

“It wasn’t bad,” Martinez said. “But I felt it a little bit my second-to-last swing of BP. They were just being cautious with it.”

Per The LA Times

It seems that the Dodgers will be careful with this injury. Groin issues are serious business because they can flare up and be frustrating for a long period of time.

Martinez is also an older player so the team will be careful. He will be counted down as the year winds down, so making sure he is healthy for the postseason should be the only goal here.