Red Sox, Alex Cora Show Support For Chris Martin After IL Move

Red Sox pitcher Chris Martin was placed on the 15-day injured list — retroactive to June 2 — due to anxiety, the club announced Wednesday.

It’s a designation that isn’t all that common, but not for a lack of anxiety among baseball players.

Red Sox manager Alex Cora spoke with the media following the move, sharing a personal story from his playing career that helped put things into perspective. Cora didn’t seek help when he dealt with similar issues, and his family suffered from it. So he has no problem with Martin looking to make a change.

“I remember playing the game, going 0-for-4, going to the apartment, turning on the TV at midnight and watching the game again,” Cora shared, per Alex Speier of The Boston Globe. “I was gonna go 0-for-4 again, and then in the morning I’d watch the game again and go 0-for-4 again. I feel like at that time, at that moment, the family suffered. It suffered a lot.

“You guys know, (my daughter) Camila is the daughter of divorced parents. I didn’t help my family to be as strong as it should be because there were a lot of demons, a lot of stuff going on in between the lines and in the clubhouse and out of baseball. That’s why I tip her mom, Nilda, because she did an outstanding job after we separated. We got a great daughter, a daughter that’s gonna kill it in the world because she’s very strong. She has strong parents. We’ve been honest about our situation, what we need to do for her to succeed, you know what I’m saying? We’ve been going through this for a while here as far as guys stepping up and being open about it.”

It’s unknown how long Martin will stay on the shelf, but that isn’t really at the top of mind for the Red Sox. Boston’s top priority is supporting the big right-hander as he works through whatever it is that caused the move.

“He’s gonna be OK,” Cora said. “Whenever he’s ready, he’s ready, right? We don’t know if it’s short-term, long-term. We never know. We don’t know about this, but I think with the team that’s around — it’s gonna surround him and he’s gonna be OK.”