{"id":23057,"date":"2025-02-02T04:30:28","date_gmt":"2025-02-02T04:30:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=23057"},"modified":"2025-02-02T04:30:28","modified_gmt":"2025-02-02T04:30:28","slug":"ex-dodgers-all-star-indicates-desire-to-play-in-2025-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=23057","title":{"rendered":"Ex-Dodgers All-Star Indicates Desire to Play in 2025: Report"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"c-content entry-content\">\n<div id=\"post-featured-container-id\">\n<div id=\"post-featured\" class=\"wp-caption \">\n<div class=\"h-responsive\">\n<figure class=\"h-responsive__inner\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"attachment-featured-image size-featured-image wp-post-image\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/GettyImages-2181404046.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 820px) 95vw, 780px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/GettyImages-2181404046.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780 780w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/GettyImages-2181404046.jpg?quality=15&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1100 1100w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/GettyImages-2181404046.jpg?quality=35&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1350 1350w\" alt=\"Dave Roberts JD Martinez\" width=\"780\" height=\"439\" data-img-load-time=\"1936\" data-dom-ready-time=\"2157\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span class=\"caption-credit\">Getty<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"c-post-image-caption-text\">A former All-Star for Dave Roberts and the Los Angeles Dodgers expressed his desire to play in 2025.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/sports\/mlb\/los-angeles-dodgers\/\">Los Angeles Dodgers<\/a>\u00a0have seen three-time Silver Slugger award winner J.D. Martinez in both their dugout and the opposition\u2019s in playoff games over the past seven years. That could still happen again in 2025.<\/p>\n<p>MLB insider Jon Heyman reported on January 30 that Martinez wants to be back in the big leagues this season.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJ.D. Martinez, a big influence in the Mets\u2019 winning clubhouse, is aiming to play in 2025,\u201d\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/01\/30\/sports\/mets-in-talks-with-padres-about-dylan-cease-trade\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\">wrote Heyman<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/m\/martijd02.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\">Martinez made<\/a>\u00a0the National League All-Star team in his only season with the Dodgers in 2023. That season, he slashed .271\/.321\/.572 with 33 home runs.<\/p>\n<p>Last year, the Dodgers met Martinez in the NLCS while he was playing with the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/sports\/mlb\/new-york-mets\/\">New York Mets<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Heyman didn\u2019t indicate whether Martinez wanted to return to the Mets or pursue other options.<\/p>\n<h2>J.D. Martinez Aiming to Return in 2025<\/h2>\n<p>As Heyman indicated, the veteran designated hitter was a valuable piece to the Mets clubhouse last season. While New York went through its ups and downs during 2024, the Mets ultimately fell just two wins short of a World Series appearance.<\/p>\n<p>But it\u2019s not clear the Mets want him back. Martinez will turn 38 in August. At the end of last season, he lost his job after a subpar August and September.<\/p>\n<p>In 55 at-bats during the final month of the regular season,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/m\/martijd02.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\">he had<\/a> just six hits, including only two extra-base hits and zero home runs.<\/p>\n<p>The veteran, who only serves as a designated hitter at this point in his career, finished the 2024 campaign with a .235 average, 16 home runs, 69 RBI and 46 runs scored.<\/p>\n<h2>Could the Dodgers Bring Back Martinez?<\/h2>\n<p>The last time the veteran designated hitter made the All-Star team was with the Dodgers. Considering that fact, it\u2019s an interesting question whether the two parties would consider a reunion.<\/p>\n<p>But because of his lack of defensive flexibility, that\u2019s highly unlikely to happen. The Dodgers already have the best designated hitter on the planet in Shohei Ohtani.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Dodgers likely would have brought Martinez back if Shohei Ohtani hadn\u2019t signed, but the designated hitter found a home with the Mets during their amazing 2024 campaign,\u201d\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/mlb\/dodgers\/news\/former-dodgers-all-star-looking-to-continue-playing-in-2025-01jjyx90jz26\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\">wrote SI on Dodgers\u2019 Valentina Martinez<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to 33 home runs,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/m\/martijd02.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\">Martinez posted<\/a>\u00a0103 RBI and 61 runs with the Dodgers during 2023. His 103 RBI were his most in a season since 2019.<\/p>\n<p>The 2024 NLCS wasn\u2019t the first time the Dodgers faced Martinez in the playoffs. He was an All-Star with the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/sports\/mlb\/boston-red-sox\/\">Boston Red Sox<\/a> in 2018 when the two teams met in the World Series.<\/p>\n<p>Martinez led the American League with 130 RBI in 2018. He won the only World Series ring of his career at the end of that season.<\/p>\n<p>In 41 career playoff games, Martinez has hit .285 with a .930 OPS. He only posted a .200 average but had a .500 slugging percentage in limited opportunities for the Dodgers during the 2023 postseason.<\/p>\n<p>Last year, he slashed .222\/.417\/.222 during the playoffs with the Mets.<\/p>\n<p>In 23 postseason games with the Red Sox, Martinez hit .317 with a 1.005 OPS.<\/p>\n<p>The best fit for Martinez in 2025 is with a team where he can serve as a designated hitter. He might be best suited for a platoon role where he faces mostly left-handed pitching.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/split.fcgi?id=martijd02&amp;year=2024&amp;t=b\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\">Martinez had<\/a> an OPS 153 points higher versus lefties than right-handed pitching during 2025.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Getty A former All-Star for Dave Roberts and the Los Angeles Dodgers expressed his desire to play in 2025. The\u00a0Los Angeles Dodgers\u00a0have seen three-time Silver Slugger award&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23058,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23057","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Ex-Dodgers All-Star Indicates Desire to Play in 2025: Report - 24\/7 News America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=23057\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ex-Dodgers All-Star Indicates Desire to Play in 2025: Report - 24\/7 News America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Getty A former All-Star for Dave Roberts and the Los Angeles Dodgers expressed his desire to play in 2025. 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