Boston Red Sox: JD Martinez day-to-day with back tightness

The Boston Red Sox haven’t won a Spring Training game since March 5, when they defeated the Nationals 8-4.

Since that win, the Red Sox have lost only one close game. The rest have been by scores like 1-12, 2-10, and 5-9.

Of course, it is only Spring Training, so the games are meaningless. However, as the regular season approaches, it would be nice to see the team get the pitching and hitting under control. Sadly, the latest blow of J.D. Martinez suffering from back tightness puts the team in a slightly more precarious situation as the regular season is only two weeks away.

Granted, Martinez hasn’t had the best Spring Training. He’s hitting a slash of .063/.118/.063 with one hit, one walk, and four strikeouts. He has only had 16 at-bats. This is atypical for Martinez who has a career Spring Training slash of .253/.308/.469.

Martinez’s back tightness was reported on Tuesday as he was scratched from the lineup against the Minnesota Twins. According to Michael Silverman with the Boston Herald, Alex Cora said about the slugger:

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"“Just a tight back. We’re not going to take a chance. He wasn’t going to play tomorrow anyway, so he’ll come here, get treatment and see how he feels. The plan was for him to go to Tampa and pay the outfield. So we’ll most likely keep him here. If he’s OK to play, probably get at-bats on the minor league side. There’s no need to rush him.”"

Even though Martinez hasn’t looked like himself at the plate in March, his history shows that his Spring Training numbers don’t matter much. In 2018, he hit zero home runs in Spring Training. During the season, he belted 43 of them over the fence.

This also isn’t the first time that he has sat out games with back tightness. Prior to the July trade deadline in 2017, Martinez had troubles with back tightness which increased rumors about him being traded. Of course, he was eventually traded to the Diamondbacks. He then went on to hit 29 home runs in his short time in Arizona.

He also experienced back tightness in June 2018.

He missed the game on June 8, 2018, and the next day went 2-4 with a home run against the White Sox. Martinez played in 150 games in 2018. He’s only topped that number once, in 2015 which was his first and only All-Star season with the Detroit Tigers when he played 158 games.

It’s not uncommon for power hitters to have issues with back pain. Miguel Cabrera, who has the swing that Martinez modeled his after, has suffered from back pain in recent years. In 2017, Cabrera had back troubles that stemmed from playing in the World Baseball Classic. The back pain resulted in Cabrera having his worst season ever, with a slash of .249/.329/.399 with only 16 home runs.

Hopefully, Martinez will be ready to play by March 28 when the BoSox travel to Seattle to take on the Mariners on Opening Day.