Why is Ketel Marte not starting for Diamondbacks on Wednesday?

The Arizona Diamondbacks released their starting lineup on Wednesday with a notable exclusion: Ketel Marte.

Marte played on Monday and Tuesday against the Philadelphia Phillies, his first two games since his Boston no-show two weeks ago and subsequent injured list stint with knee inflammation.

General manager Mike Hazen told Arizona Sports’ Bickley & Marotta that Marte’s day off on Wednesday was planned.

“He was on the shelf with a knee injury, obviously, after what happened and that is still something we have to make sure we’re taking care of,” Hazen said. “He’d been DH-ing for that exact reason. So we need to get him back on the field. So the day game after the two night games, getting back after that absence was a planned day.”

Marte started as the designated hitter in Arizona’s first two games against the Phillies, both losses. He continues to ramp up on defense, as manager Torey Lovullo mentioned that he could return to second base during the upcoming series against the Houston Astros.

Marte addressed his teammates on Monday after he had been away from the team, as his absence made national headlines for its bizarre and unexcused nature. Diamondbacks fans at Chased Field greeted him with boos during starting lineup introductions and his first at-bats on Monday and Tuesday.

Marte went 2-for-6 with a pair of singles and a walk over his first two games, along with a hit-by-pitch on the elbow during Tuesday’s contest.

Arizona’s handling of Marte has been under scrutiny for years at this point but never more so than with this latest episode. He has gone four straight seasons of missing an important game or games under his own accord, and he has been a no-show at points in 2023, 2025 and 2026.

Lovullo was very open about the difficulties of managing Marte on Monday, explaining that the player retreats when the hammer gets dropped on him.

Hazen said Marte made a mistake by not showing up to Fenway Park and had admitted as much, explaining that the Diamondbacks now need him to perform.

“Questioning the handling of Ketel Marte is also questioning me,” Hazen said. “That’s fair. I’m involved in all this. It’s not a simple solution. I hear what people say and how they want it to be handled. The simple black-and-white version of this sounds much simpler. I just don’t think that’s the way this works.

“These are high-performing individuals with a lot of pressure and they get paid a lot of money for that pressure. They have to handle it. There’s no excuses there. … The players don’t run the clubhouse. We run the clubhouse, but we do give our players a lot of voice in how we want that ecosystem to run. We encourage our leadership within the clubhouse to run the clubhouse the way it needs to be run.

“We listened a lot to what they have to say as well, but we run it in the rules and those rules need to be followed. He’s a great player and he made a mistake. We now need him for the next 22 games to go out there and dominate for us. That’s what we’ve asked him to do. That’s what his teammates want him to do.”

Diamondbacks teammates have expressed a desire to move on from this narrative and focus on the postseason chase with Marte back in the building and contributing to the end goal.

The Diamondbacks entered Wednesday a half-game back of the San Diego Padres for the third National League Wild Card game.

Diamondbacks Wednesday lineup

Wednesday matinee. pic.twitter.com/B46itsYl3f

— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) September 2, 2026

Their series finale against the Phillies starts at 12:40 p.m. MST on 98.7 and the Arizona Sports app. 

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