I had heard that former Cubs outfielder Leonys Martin was placed on the disabled list late last week with an illness by the Cleveland Indians, but I had no idea how serious it had gotten, and how quickly. From the update provided by team tonight, Martin may have been close to death.
Leonys Martin has been battling a life-threatening bacterial infection that attacked his internal organs. He is currently in stable condition, and is improving. Chris Antonetti addressed the Indians about the situation this afternoon.
— Zack Meisel (@ZackMeisel) August 13, 2018
On Leonys Martin, the timeline of his life-threatening bacterial infection and the Indians' hope that he'll make a full recovery.
"Those toxins did damage to his internal organs and the functioning of those organs was compromised, and it was severe."https://t.co/XsZnln5Bdv
— Zack Meisel (@ZackMeisel) August 13, 2018
No one yet knows how Martin developed the infection exactly, or why it became so quickly life-threatening. This is unbelievably scary stuff, especially when you consider this happened in the span of 24 hours to a professional athlete in peak physical condition.
I wanted to share this not just for the newsworthiness, but also so that people could send out some positive energy to Martin and his family. He wasn’t a Cub for long, and not that being a Cub, alone, makes you worthy of our positivity, but still. He sticks out in our memory, if for nothing else, than his incredible homer-robbing catch last year that ended the Cardinals’ playoff hopes.
Martin, 30, was having a great season, showing his typically excellent defense and baserunning, while putting up a slightly-better-than-league-average line (.255/.323/.425). Hopefully he will be completely healthy soon, and then will be able to work his way back into playing baseball, if not this year, then next year.