Davey Martinez joked often in his first season on the bench in the nation’s capital about how hard it was to convince Juan Soto to take a day off, and apparently convincing the 20-year-old outfielder to go on the Injured List earlier this month wasn’t easy either, but he did go to the IL, reluctantly, on May 4th, with back spasms which had been bothering the outfielder in the days before the decision was made.
“If you know Juan, he did not like the stint on the IL, and he’s itching to come back, so he looks good, [and] getting him in the lineup extends our lineup a little bit and it will be fun to watch him back out there,” Martinez told reporters before Soto returned from a 10-Day IL stint in the third of four with the Los Angeles Dodgers.