Before Monday’s opener of the three-game series against the Boston Red Sox at Citi Field starting on Monday night, the Mets placed designated hitter J.D. Martinez on the paternity list.
In his place, New York recalled DJ Stewart from Triple-A Syracuse and slotted him into Monday’s lineup, batting eighth and playing left field against the right-hander Brayan Bello.
“Bello, he’s pretty tough on right-handed hitters so coming into the series I knew that I was gonna give some of our righties a day because we’re facing, not only today, but the guy tomorrow and especially [Tanner] Houck the last day, their splits when you look at their numbers you want to have as many left-handed hitters as possible in there,” said manager Carlos Mendoza.
The Mets will be without Martinez for at most three games as he attends the birth of his child. That means the veteran will likely miss the entire series against his former team and be back for a three-game set against the Cincinnati Reds.
“It’s one of those where we gotta wait,” Mendoza said about Martinez’s return timeline.
Martinez has been heating up at the plate recently after scuffling a bit for the last two months. Over the last seven games, the 37-year-old is slashing .308/.379/.577 with two home runs.
Even during his struggles which saw him slide down the batting order, Martinez was still productive and drove in 31 runs on just 39 hits in July and August.
After signing with the team late in the offseason and missing the first month, the righty-swinging bat has 16 home runs and 65 RBI while hitting .252 with a .777 OPS in 381 at-bats.
Stewart began the season with the Mets after a hot end to the 2023 season, but the outfielder struggled out of the gates this year and hit just .172 with five home runs and 19 RBI in 71 games.
Optioned to Triple-A in late July (after New York traded for Jesse Winker), Stewart has played well for Syracuse and owns an .879 OPS in 22 games.