Arizona Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo believes stars Christian Walker and Ketel Marte could move forward quickly once they are fully relieved of their duties.
The manager said Burns & Gambo by Arizona Sports on Friday, the two veterans have had so many at-bats this year that he hopes they return “sooner rather than later.”
Walker landed on the injured list on July 30 with a strained left oblique muscle and Marte on Monday with a sprained ankle.
“There is a target date when we hope they will be available for us,” Lovullo said. “Christian Walker continues to progress. Yesterday he hit at full speed and full intensity. He will do that again today. Unfortunately with Marte, we are trying to get him symptom-free. Once he is symptom-free, we will start his progression.”
“But in both cases, I feel like they could progress quickly because they have so many at-bats under their belt.”
Neither player has returned to full-time baseball action yet, although Lovullo said he looks forward to a return for Arizona’s 13 games in 13 days, which begin Tuesday.
The Diamondbacks host the New York Mets for three games, the Los Angeles Dodgers for four games and then play three more games at the San Francisco Giants before their next day off.
Lovullo noted that both players would certainly be back this season.
Is Justin Martinez the closer in the future?
Justin Martinez has been the go-to guy for save situations over the past few weeks, earning Arizona’s last five saves. Martinez has a 1.89 ERA this season and has allowed one earned run in 5.2 innings while making saves.
“In short, we are very pleased and happy with how things have gone. Overall, we need to make sure all the bullpen pieces are working and doing so at the highest level,” Lovullo said.
“For me, that means Paul Sewald. I want to get Paul Sewald back in that role, but I want to give him the opportunity to continue to grow and learn and get a feel for where he is, and it’s going in a very positive direction. But whoever it is and wherever it is, I feel very good about our pieces. There’s a strategy in place for how and when and where we send those guys. Justin has responded really well. He’s saving baseball games right now, and that’s the most important thing.”
Sewald has allowed three earned runs in eight innings since moving from the closer role. He allowed a run in the ninth inning on Saturday in a 4-1 win at Fenway Park, and Arizona moved Martinez into the bullpen to warm up just in case. That says a lot about the current roles, even without labels.
