NEW YORK – Nick Markakis was back in the Braves lineup Tuesday after missing two games with a trapezius muscle strain near his neck.
The veteran right fielder said it was not at all related to major neck surgery he had in December for a herniated disk.
“No, this is way lower,” he said. “I don’t have any issues with my neck at all.”
So then, you may be asking, what was the cause of this painful situation? Call it a bad sleeping position.
“I’m a stomach sleeper, so I sleep on my stomach,” Markakis said, demonstrating how his neck gets turned sometimes when he’s in his customary sleeping position. “Not the best for me.”
He’s tried sleeping on his back, of course. “I roll right over,” he said. “I don’t even know I’m doing it.”
After two days of rest and treatment, he was fine Tuesday.
Despite the neck surgery that forced him to miss an entire offseason of strength and conditioning, and most of the Grapefruit League schedule during spring training, Markakis was ready by opening day and was tied for third in the National League in at-bats (574) and tied for sixth in games played (146) before Tuesday.
He batted .298 with 40 extra-base hits (two homers) and a .371 OBP (ninth-best in the NL) and .376 slugging percentage before Tuesday, and Markakis had hit .317 (38-for-120) with 11 doubles, a .397 OBP and .408 slugging percentage in his past 29 games.
“Coming off surgery and being where I am now, sure there’s a couple of things that I’d like to do better,” said Markakis, whose two home runs are eight below his previous single-season career low, “but overall in the big picture, I’m pretty pleased with what I’m doing right now. Under the circumstances. So, just continue what I’m doing, and get better in the offseason.
