Mets' J.D. Martinez wears elbow guard — for first time ever
J.D. Martinez of the Mets bats during the third inning against the Athletics at Citi Field on Wednesday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
On Wednesday, J.D. Martinez went practical over proud.
As he returned to the Mets’ lineup against the Athletics — a surprise to manager Carlos Mendoza — he did so with a new accessory: an untarnished, fresh-out-of-the-box, bright white elbow guard. For the first time ever, Martinez said, he would try out that layer of protection.
That was a result of taking a 99.6-mph fastball from Oakland righthander Joe Boyle off his left elbow on Tuesday. He lost the sensation in his arm, he said afterward, forcing him out of the game. X-rays were negative.
Such a scare caused him to reconsider his longstanding preference.
“I don’t believe in them,” Martinez said before batting practice. “They’re against my religion.”
His session in the cage must have included some sort of divine intervention. He emerged newly open-minded.
“Until today,” Martinez said after hitting. “I’m going to try it out. If it has no hits, I’ll probably throw it out.”
Martinez had been hit in that spot before, but never with a pitch coming in quite that hard, he explained. So he never had real reason to add a guard, which batters sometimes feel is uncomfortable or constricting. He described himself as “old school” on the matter.
“I guess it takes getting hit to start using one,” Martinez said.
As Mendoza mulled the Mets’ next lineup late Tuesday night, he figured Martinez would be good for a day off. The Mets tend to be careful in cases like this. They have others — such as Mark Vientos, who replaced Martinez as the DH on Tuesday — who can slot in just fine.
“Before he went home, he was like, let’s wait till tomorrow, give it a chance,” Mendoza said. “I texted with him this morning, he’s like, I’m feeling good, ready to go. So he’s in there.”
By Wednesday afternoon, Martinez didn’t even have a visible bruise.
“Did you survive?” Francisco Lindor asked him from the next locker over.
“I made it,” Martinez said.
Holding pattern for Reid-Foley
Sean Reid-Foley (right shoulder impingement) has reached a weird stage in his comeback attempt: He feels fine physically, according to Mendoza, but he isn’t pitching well.
In a four-out appearance Tuesday with Triple-A Syracuse, Reid Foley allowed three baserunners (two runs). Mendoza said the Mets don’t know what he’ll do next other than not get into another minor-league game the next few days.
“He’s not sure if it’s mechanics or what, but the ball is not coming out the way he would like to,” Mendoza said. “So we gotta figure out what we’re dealing with here. He’s a little frustrated because of that.”
Reid-Foley’s fastball velocity was in the lower 90s Tuesday.
“We need to figure that out,” Mendoza said.
Hello again
Drew Smith, out for the season after Tommy John surgery last month, rejoined the team at Citi Field this week. He planned to come back — to rehab, but also to hang out — all along, but especially after president of baseball operations David Stearns reached out post-surgery to make clear to Smith that he was welcome.
Despite wearing a huge brace on his arm and being at the beginning of a grueling rehab process that likely will cost him all of the 2025 season as well, Smith was upbeat. His incision has healed well. If it was possible for things to be going well this early, he said, they are.
Smith is due to be a free agent after this season.
Extra bases
Mets outfield prospect Drew Gilbert, who missed three months because of a torn hamstring, exited Syracuse’s game Wednesday after getting hit in the groin by a pitch. Video of the incident showed him screaming and writhing in pain after the moment of impact . . . Mendoza said Harrison Bader was out of the lineup for a routine day off, his second in three games . . . Among the Mets’ cold bats: Francisco Alvarez. He was batting .169/.194/.246 over the past month. “There’s times where he’s chasing, there’s times where he’s late on pitches he can do damage with,” Mendoza said. “I think he’s going through it. He’s searching a little bit” . . . Brandon Nimmo hosted the Long Island Bombers, a beep baseball team, on the field during BP. The Bombers describe themselves as an adaptive baseball team for the blind and visually impaired.
Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.
