Marte nearly back after knee pushed to its breaking point
MIAMI — Starling Marte went for an examination of his right knee last month, hardly expecting to hear that a bone was close to fracturing. “The way I was playing, it could have given out at any moment,” the Mets outfielder said Saturday through an interpreter before the Mets’ 1-0 win over the Marlins. Marte isn’t sure how the injury, described as a deep bone bruise in the knee, occurred. But after three weeks of resting, he finally returned to light baseball activities this week. Neither Marte nor manager Carlos Mendoza provided a timeline for a possible return, but there is optimism he will play again this season. Following an examination Friday, the 35-year-old Marte was told the knee is looking “a lot better” than on June 24 when he received his initial MRI exam. “There is still a little bit of inflammation around there, but it’s one of those things that with the proper training methods and all, it’s going to eventually subside,” Marte said. “I think it’s one of those things where there are going to be days I feel pain, but also there’s going to be that bounce back where it’s going to subside and then eventually, little by little … get back to 100 percent.”
Marte, with the knee barking, was a productive piece of the lineup in the weeks leading into his placement on the injured list. Overall, he owns a .278/.328/.416 slash line with seven homers, 30 RBIs and 12 stolen bases.
In his absence, Mendoza has employed a rotating cast in right field that has included Jeff McNeil, Tyrone Taylor and DJ Stewart. For Marte, it’s been bittersweet watching the team ascend above .500 into National League wild-card contention.
“I felt good up until the point I got hurt, because at that point the team was turning it around and we were winning a lot of games,” Marte said. “But at the same time, you are kind of heartbroken by the situation because you want to go out there to help the team win and when you are hurt and you are not expecting it, it’s hard to kind of be there and just be a bystander.”
In the weeks before Marte’s knee pain became significant enough to force his removal from the lineup, Mendoza had been judicious in using the player, giving him built-in off days, especially in attempting to minimize his exposure to artificial turf. But it wasn’t enough to keep Marte, who missed most of the final two months last season with groin discomfort, in the lineup.
“There was one day I woke up with knee pain and maybe it was from running a lot and stealing a lot of bases and sliding and things like that, but it got to the point it was hurting and I thought it would go away, but it never did,” Marte said.
“Then when the doctors looked at the image, they were surprised by how much I was able to play because they thought at some point the bone could give out so what they ended up doing after a point I could no longer run, they just shut me down.”
Marte’s goal is to reach a point where he doesn’t have to think about the knee on a daily basis.
“It doesn’t help anyone for me to try to rush this injury and get back on the field just to get hurt again,” Marte said. “I think the way that we have handled it, it’s one of those things where I can [eventually] go out and play and just forget about it.”