{"id":825252,"date":"2026-08-25T11:26:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T11:26:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/825252\/"},"modified":"2026-08-25T11:26:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T11:26:15","slug":"ketel-martes-diamondbacks-return-plan-emerges-comes-with-a-plea-for-fans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/825252\/","title":{"rendered":"Ketel Marte&#8217;s Diamondbacks return plan emerges comes with a plea for fans"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Ketel Marte will rejoin the Diamondbacks next week \u2014 they hope.<\/p>\n<p>The All-Star second baseman mysteriously disappeared before a game in Boston two weeks ago, an absence the team has not fully been able to explain. The plan is for him to return on Aug. 31 against the Phillies in Arizona.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s what we\u2019re thinking about,\u201d manager Torey Lovullo told reporters Monday. \u201cI think that will be the 10th day or the 11th day, so there is definitely a strategy to get him back on the field, get him healthy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.40082079;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\"   data-modal-image=\"40493221\" width=\"826\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/arizona-diamondbacks-second-baseman-ketel-137848686_a74996.jpg\" alt=\"Arizona Diamondbacks second baseman Ketel Marte crouching on the field.\" class=\"wp-image-40493221\"\/>Diamondbacks second baseman Ketel Marte against the Colorado Rockies. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n<p>Marte was placed on the restricted list after he no-showed for an Aug. 17 game against the Red Sox, and he has since been moved to the 10-day IL with inflammation in his left knee.<\/p>\n<p>He reportedly still has not addressed the bizarre absence with his teammates as they fight for a playoff spot \u2014 they entered Monday\u2019s slate two games behind the Padres for the third Wild Card berth. On Friday, Arizona Sports\u2019 John Gambadoro reported <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/08\/22\/sports\/ketel-marte-spotted-at-arizona-casino-as-diamondbacks-manager-feels-betrayed\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Marte was at a Scottsdale casino<\/a> \u201cfor hours\u201d as the Diamondbacks faced to Reds.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re trying to create the softest space for him to re-emerge back in this environment,\u201d Lovullo said Monday . \u201cThat\u2019s up to him however he wants to do it. I cannot force a human being to do something that I want to do, or anybody in this room wants to do, or a fan wants to do.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\"   data-modal-image=\"40493227\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/arizona-diamondbacks-manager-torey-lovullo-138246916.jpg\" alt=\"Arizona Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo in a purple and turquoise hat looking onto the field.\" class=\"wp-image-40493227\"\/>Arizona Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo looks out to the field against the Cincinnati Reds in the second inning at Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona, on Saturday, August 22, 2026. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne of the things that makes Ketel such an extraordinary player is he goes to the beat of his own drum. I respect that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Lovullo has offered plenty of support and emotional response to Marte\u2019s disappearing act and is imploring fans to do the same when he finally takes the field again.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cKetel is a very loving young man,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t want (booing) to happen. I understand it\u2019s a possibility it could happen, but we\u2019ll all rally around him.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>Marte is slashing .249\/.314\/.446 over 118 games on the season with 21 home runs and 67 RBI this season.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s not the first time he\u2019s gone AWOL on the Diamondbacks, having returned home to the Dominican Republic and missing three games after his house was burglarized in 2025 \u2014 an incident he apologized to this teammates for.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ketel Marte will rejoin the Diamondbacks next week \u2014 they hope. The All-Star second baseman mysteriously disappeared before&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":825253,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[2317,363,99],"class_list":["post-825252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-arizona-diamondbacks","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/825252","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=825252"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/825252\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/825253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=825252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=825252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=825252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}