ANAHEIM, Calif. – There is a bigger point to be taken from Russell Martin’s determination to play through a left hamstring injury and contribute what he can to the Toronto Blue Jays, one that seems to be lost upon those calling for him to take a timeout with a stint on the disabled list.
Having players with a play-until-you-absolutely-can’t mindset really sets the tone for a clubhouse, establishing an expectation that everybody fulfils their responsibility unless it’s physically impossible to do so.
Persisting through pain is part of the job description.
Such a mentality was reflected earlier this season when Jose Bautista struggled through a shoulder injury but still stayed on the field, and when Edwin Encarnacion endured back, groin, hamstring, finger and shoulder problems to still answer the call.
Martin is doing the same thing right now, shaking off the obvious physical limitations he’s under to continue doing his part. If you’re looking for the subtle but significant differences between this iteration of the Blue Jays and those in recent years, it’s in that kind of toughness and determination.
“Everybody has a pain threshold and everybody can handle different things,” Martin says in an interview. “On this team, it’s something you realize throughout the year, guys are gamers. I’ve been on teams where I’ve seen guys that wouldn’t play if something was wrong. It’s not that you don’t respect those guys, but it’s known, and you definitely don’t want to be one of those guys that’s known for sitting out if they’re sore, or something like that. You get paid a lot of money, man – play.”
That mindset is why he doesn’t get all the fuss about his injury and the talk of putting him on the disabled list so he can heal. Manager John Gibbons says Martin hasn’t once complained about his hamstring, and that there “hasn’t been a hell of a lot of talk about” a DL stint internally.
Instead, the Blue Jays moved to lighten the load on him by recalling Josh Thole on Sunday to catch R.A. Dickey, likely for the remainder of the regular season. Taking Dickey off his plate, in combination with the one start every five games Dioner Navarro gets, should build in enough rest to keep Martin’s hamstring from further deteriorating.
His durability is one of the qualities the Blue Jays most liked about him, and Martin understands how to manage his injuries. Last year, he spent about a month on the DL with a similar hamstring injury, but that was at the beginning of the season, before the stakes were high.
Now isn’t the time to pull back.
“I feel like they trust me to know my body enough that I’m not going out there and worsen things to where I can’t play anymore,” says Martin. “If it’s a playable situation, then you play through it. For me it’s a no-brainer. If I was a speed guy and that was the only thing I did, like a Juan Pierre and I was on the team to get on base and steal bases, then you might want to look at the situation and be like, ‘OK, he’s not really helping us out right now.’ The fact is I’m behind the plate to call a good game, receive and help with the bat as much as I can. Those are all things I feel like I can do right now.”
Encarnacion, currently riding a career-best 19-game hitting streak, recently missed four games when a left finger strain he suffered last month resurfaced, but returned to the lineup once he found an adjusted bat grip eased the pain. Typically, he likes gripping the bat knob between his index and third fingers on his left or bottom hand because of the whip he generates, but to get back in the lineup faster he moved his hand up on the handle.
“I’m not feeling much,” says Encarnacion, “it feels like I’m getting more comfortable.”
Between all the different ailments he’s had, he understandably calls 2015 “one of my hardest seasons,” but at the same time, he adds, “Everybody here wants to be in the playoffs, everybody wants to play no matter what’s happening in their bodies. If there’s some pain or whatever, you want to be in the lineup because that’s the only way you can help your team win games. Everybody here is an important piece for the team and we try to deal with the injuries and be as healthy as we can.”
Dealing with injuries and keeping everyone healthy extends beyond simply playing through things. Bautista’s maintenance work and rehab efforts got him back in the outfield after he spent a month limited to DH duties all alone.
His ability to stay on the field is no accident.
“Where I’ve really been able to improve my body management has been on the little pains and aches by incorporating new systems and methods to my training, like yoga, more kinetic based stuff, functional workouts,” says Bautista, “instead of just weightlifting, which in the off-season is great, because you can create power and endurance, but during the season it’s a little counterproductive because you can create tightness and soreness that might not let you be yourself 100 per cent on a daily basis. So I’ve been doing a lot of stretching, a lot of stress release on my muscles, stuff like that, and that’s allowed me to have my body feeling better on a day to day basis.”
The Blue Jays are hoping three consecutive days with no squatting gives Martin enough of a sustained recuperation period to mark a noticeable improvement in his leg.
If it doesn’t, he’ll still be ready to go.
“It’s pretty simple, the way the human body works, it’s not like it’s a scrape and it’s going to heal in a couple of days,” says Martin. “At this point, everybody is banged up. If you ask everybody the question, how are you feeling, if they’re completely honest everybody is banged up. It’s 162 games, it’s not a walk in the park, it’s not like you’re on a swing and nothing is going to happen. You get bumps and bruises, you play through it and it’s all about winning.”
In other words, no excuses offered, and none taken.