Starling Marte's absence may not be long after all. Marte, placed on the 10-day disabled list Friday with a strained right oblique, told reporters Sunday morning the injury isn't as painful as one he suffered in the past and agreed with Clint Hurdle's assessment that he could return soon.
Marte suffered the injury while batting in the first inning against the White Sox Tuesday. He later doubled in the at-bat and scored; however, he was removed from the game following the inning and was replaced by Austin Meadows on the 25-man roster three days later. Meadows, who will start in center field for a third consecutive game Sunday, had two hits in his major league debut.
"I definitely think Clint is speaking the truth," Marte said through team interpreter Mike Gonzalez. "This is not something that’s going to be lengthful. I believe we're going to be able to bounce back right away. I just need to continue to work with my trainers, submit to them and what they have in store for me and I should be back as soon as possible."
Marte has started 40 games in center field this season and is batting .308/.366/.503 with five doubles, four triples, six home runs and 19 RBIs. He's also ranked among the top defensive outfielders in the majors, according to outs above average, a Statcast range-based metric that shows how many outs an outfielder has saved over his peers, accounting for not only the number of plays but also the difficulty of them.
With Marte out of the lineup, Hurdle has used Francisco Cervelli and Corey Dickerson in the three-hole, while Meadows and Sean Rodriguez are expected to split time in center field. Marte's oblique injury doesn't appear to be as serious as the one he suffered in August 2012 that forced him to spend 19 days on the disabled list.
"No, this is definitely different," Marte said. "The one in the past was actually painful, painful. Something I could barely even move through. This is more of just a bother. Something that’s not allowing me to function at my best."
Marte struggled upon returning from the disabled list in September 2012, batting .264/.316/.458 with 26 strikeouts in 24 games to finish the season. Oblique strains can linger since it's an injury to the core muscles that control rotation, directly impacting a player's swing at the plate and ability to throw. While some mild oblique strains can be resolved in a few days, severe strains can require surgery with a recovery time of three to four months.
Former Dodgers athletic trainer Stan Conte teamed with the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City and Major League Baseball in 2017 to further examine the impact of oblique strains on injured MLB players. The study revealed that hitters typically take 27 days to recover from a mild strain, while pitchers typically take as many as 35 days.
