The main goal for not only the Los Angeles Dodgers, but any team, throughout the course of Spring Training is to get to Opening Day healthy and without significant injuries.
Because of that, whenever a player has a minor injury, the team will be more inclined to shut him down for a few days just to be cautious and make sure it doesn’t develop into anything serious. That was the case with outfielder Cody Bellinger earlier in the spring when he had minor back discomfort.
It appears newly-acquired catcher Russell Martin is dealing with some back pain as he is being held out of camp for the next few days. Though, Marin said the lower back issue is not something to worry too much about, via Ken Gurnick of MLB.com:
“If it was [during] the season, I probably wouldn’t miss time,” said Martin. “My lower back has been achy from working on stuff in the cage and taking a lot more swings. There were certain drills I was doing that isolated certain muscles and I just overdid it. I got excited, was seeing improvements and thought I was 22 again.”
Martin is currently battling with Austin Barnes for the starting catcher position, so this is a golden opportunity for Barnes to impress the coaching staff while Martin is out.
The Dodgers acquired Martin from the Toronto Blue Jays in the offseason, returning him to the organization that drafted him. The 35-year-old has gotten off to a decent start this spring, going 2-for-8 with three RBI in his first three Cactus League games.
With still almost a month until Opening Day, Martin has plenty of time to recover from the back injury and get enough at-bats to be ready for the start of the season.
