If there’s one thing you can always count on to happen in baseball, it’s that big-league players will find the weirdest and most inopportune ways to hurt themselves.
Last week, we learned that relief pitcher Devin Williams would likely miss the entire postseason after he fractured his throwing hand by punching a wall. And it wasn’t even the first time this season that a pitcher broke his hand punching something! The wall always wins.
But even the simplest of tasks — like jogging to your position in the outfield — can pose a danger to a Major League Baseball player at a given moment. For Red Sox outfielder J.D. Martinez, it meant missing the AL Wild Card game against the Yankees.
JD Martinez is missing tonight's win-or-go-home AL Wild Card Game because he rolled his ankle on second base while jogging out to his position in right field in the last game of the regular season on Sunday pic.twitter.com/rkJlKvwTg3
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) October 5, 2021
Martinez was left off the Red Sox roster for Tuesday’s single-elimination game with a sprained ankle, and MLB Network got a hold of the ballpark cam that showed exactly how that injury took place.
Between innings of Sunday’s game in Washington, Martinez evidently rolled his ankle on second base while he made his way to the outfield. It was such a random thing to happen. Why did he even step on the bag? It’s a route he’s taken countless times during his career without issue, but for him to get injured on it 48 hours before the AL Wild Card game — man, that’s just some terrible luck.
Martinez was still getting treatment on the ankle on Monday, and he’ll probably have a decent chance to return to the lineup should the Red Sox win Tuesday night.
He’ll have to watch his step next time. That’s for sure.
