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Ketel Marte apologizes for taking time off

Originally posted on Larry Brown Sports
By Darryn Albert | Last updated Aug 18, 2025 10:14 PM ET

Ketel Marte is issuing his mea culpa this week.

The Arizona Diamondbacks All-Star second baseman Marte spoke with reporters on Monday before a home game against the Cleveland Guardians. During his remarks, Marte apologized for taking time away from the team to begin the second half of the season.

“Initially, the plan was to come back on the first day and be with [the] team and practice,” said Marte through a translator. “[I] want to publicly apologize for not backing that up. [I] obviously knew the circumstance, knew the situation. [I] got frustrated, [I] was in a bad spot. But [I] truly want to apologize for [my] teammates and everybody else that is supporting the team. [My] goal is to always be a Dback and support for the organization for as long as [I] stay here.”

Marte also stressed his belief that he is a good teammate and added that the maintenance days that he has taken off otherwise have been part of an injury management plan with the team. You can see his full remarks here.

Diamondbacks All-Star Ketel Marte addressed the media prior to today’s game at Chase Field. He is in the lineup today. pic.twitter.com/xFF9D7brDc
— José M. Romero (@RomeroJoseM) August 18, 2025

The 31-year-old Marte is the longest-tenured Dbacks player and is having a nice season with a .297 batting average to go along with 23 home runs and 56 RBIs (which was good enough to make his third career All-Star team). But Marte has appeared in just 92 of 125 games thus far for Arizona this season, having dealt with both hamstring and groin injuries in recent months.

Marte also drew scrutiny by taking unpaid time off to return to the Dominican Republic after the All-Star break. He missed the first three games of the second half, apparently to get right mentally after his house in Scottsdale, Ariz. got burglarized while Marte played in July’s MLB All-Star Game. Marte also dealt with an incident in June during which an opposing fan taunted him over his late mother in the middle of a game.

A report emerged last week claiming that Dbacks teammates were getting frustrated with Marte’s missed time, even supposedly blaming him for the team’s post-All-Star skid that led to a trade deadline sell-off (full details here). Now Marte is issuing a public apology, which is probably the right move given that he is still under contract with Arizona through at least 2030.

This article first appeared on Larry Brown Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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