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The Diamondbacks announced that Ketel Marte sustained a left hamstring strain in Friday’s win over the Nationals. The star second baseman pulled up lame as he ran out a first-inning double. He left the game immediately and was replaced by pinch-runner Garrett Hampson.
Manager Torey Lovullo suggested postgame that Marte was likely headed to the 10-day injured list (h/t to Megan Plain of Fox 10 Phoenix). The team will presumably have a better idea of how long he’ll be out as he goes through testing over the next couple days. Any absence is a significant blow on the heels of Marte’s first top-three MVP finish.
The two-time All-Star drilled 36 home runs with a .292/.372/.560 slash en route to a Silver Slugger award last season. Marte had been out to a strong start this year. Friday’s double pushed him to 9-26 on the young season. He has drawn six walks while only striking out four times. The injury comes two days after Marte signed an extension that added four years and $64M while deferring a decent chunk of salary to give the team more payroll flexibility in the short term.
Hampson is the only backup infielder on the active roster. He’s a light-hitting utility player who posted a .230/.275/.300 line over 113 games for the Royals last season. Blaze Alexander has been down since February because of an oblique strain. Grae Kessinger and Tim Tawa are on the 40-man roster if the D-Backs want to promote a backup infielder while drawing Hampson into the lineup at second base.
The higher-upside play would be to promote top prospect Jordan Lawlar, who hasn’t appeared in the majors since a late-season call in 2023. Lawlar missed most of last season to injury. There wasn’t a path to everyday playing time behind Marte, Geraldo Perdomo and Eugenio Suárez, so the D-Backs optioned him back to Triple-A Reno to begin the season. He’s hitting .273 without a home run through his first six games. Primarily a shortstop, Lawlar made his third start of the season at second base in Reno’s game Friday. He has also made one start at third base and three at shortstop.
