Diamondbacks star Ketel Marte has opened up about the burglary that took place at his home over the All-Star break.
After Sunday’s 5-3 win over the Cardinals, Marte shared that over $400,000 worth of items were stolen from his home in Scottsdale last Tuesday, and that he found out about the robbery while at his hotel in Atlanta, where he played in the All-Star Game at Truist Field.
“Not good to know you lose around $400,000,” Marte said through a translator, “but you just gotta move on.”
After the incident, the AP reported that various personal items and pieces of jewelry had been stolen, and that there had been signs of forced entry.
No one was at Marte’s home at the time of the incident, police said.
The Diamondbacks placed Marte on the restricted list Friday, and the 31-year-old did not play in Arizona’s three-game series against the Cardinals.
“He’s dealing with a personal issue, so he asked for some time off, time away, just to get grounded and get himself back to where he can come back here and play and be a force for us,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said Friday. “So it’s kind of a day-to-day situation.”
Marte, a second baseman, said he will return to the lineup as a DH Monday night against the Astros.
The burglary is part of a difficult stretch for the three-time All-Star.
Marte broke down crying on the field in a June 24 game against the White Sox when a heckler made comments about his late mother, Elpidia Valdez, who died in a 2017 car crash in the Dominican Republic.
“What happened was in the seventh inning, I came to bat. I’m ready at the plate and I hear this fan shouting. He was on top of the dugout,” Marte said afterward in an interview with “Danny Beisbol,” as translated by subtitles. “He yelled at me, saying stuff about my mom. He was like, ‘I sent your mom a text last night.’ When everything happened with my mom, I was here in Chicago. I was in this city.”
On the field, Marte is enjoying an impressive season, boasting a .290 average and 164 OPS+ with 19 home runs and 40 RBIs.