Arizona Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo once again came to Ketel Marte's defense following another report that the star second baseman continues to frustrate members of the organization by taking days off.
"I can wholeheartedly tell you that Ketel has been an unbelievable player for the Arizona Diamondbacks for a long period of time," Lovullo said Tuesday, according to Jose M. Romero of AZ Central Sports. "There are days off that are needed. They're fairly scripted. We asked for his input, and when the athlete gives us input, we're going to listen.
"But there's this underlying theme that he's not a good teammate and it's pulling at the fabric of the clubhouse chemistry, which is not true at all. ... What I ask that stops is that theme that something is wrong in our clubhouse or something isn't right in our clubhouse because of Ketel Marte. That couldn't be further from the truth."
Bob Nightengale of USA Today reported Sunday that some within the D-Backs organization are frustrated by Marte, who sat when Shohei Ohtani was pitching against them last Wednesday but played in Thursday's game against the Los Angeles Dodgers and hit a walk-off homer.
The 60-year-old skipper also publicly defended the 2024 NL MVP finalist in August following similar reports, including one from Nightengale, about the player's work ethic.
"He's a great teammate, a great young man," Lovullo said at the time. "He goes out there and plays hard every single day for the Arizona Diamondbacks. It's over. I want to put it behind us."
Members of the D-Backs were reportedly bothered that Marte missed three games after his house was burglarized during the 2025 All-Star break because he spent the majority of the time in the Dominican Republic instead of in Scottsdale, where the incident took place.
Arizona engaged with other teams in Marte trade talks during the offseason, but a deal never materialized.
