The Arizona Diamondbacks placed second baseman Ketel Marte on the injured list on Saturday on account of a strained left hamstring. Marte suffered the ailment during Friday's game against the Washington Nationals, when he legged out a double in the first inning of a 6-4 win (box score). In a corresponding move, the Diamondbacks brought up infielder Tim Tawa from Triple-A Reno.
Marte, 31, was off to a brilliant start to the season. In his first eight games, he'd batted .346/.469/.462 (167 OPS+) with three doubles and more walks (six) than strikeouts (four). He's developed into a multi-time All-Star honoree and a one-time Silver Slugger Award winner. Marte has averaged 5.8 Wins Above Replacement the last two seasons, according to Baseball Reference's calculations.
The Diamondbacks recently signed Marte to a new contract that runs through the 2031 season and gained him more than $60 million in new money. You can read more about that deal here.
Tawa, 26 come April 7, will be making his big-league debut. In six games thus far this season, he'd hit .391/.462/.957 with three home runs and three additional extra-base hits. CBS Sports named Tawa the Diamondbacks' breakout player of the year back in the spring. Here's what we wrote:
This much is clear: Tawa can hit minor-league pitching. He generated a .279/.349/.519 slash line between Double- and Triple-A last season, recording a 95 mph or better exit velocity on nearly 60% of his batted balls against right-handed pitching. The reason you're unfamiliar with him is because he's not much of a defensive presence (the D-backs auditioned him at every position but catcher and pitcher last season), and because he's susceptible to whiffing, to the extent that it's possible his game doesn't port to the majors. I'm picking Tawa, warts and all, because there's no denying his strength and I think that, at some point, the Diamondbacks will give him a chance to prove he can do what he does against MLB arms.
Tawa figures to split time at the keystone with Garrett Hampson.
The Diamondbacks will enter Saturday afternoon's game with a 5-3 record on the young season. They'll send Eduardo Rodriguez to the mound against the 1-6 Nationals and Mitchell Parker.
