Surprise, surprise.
When news came out that Rafael Devers wasn't going to participate in this year's Home Run Derby, an assumption was made by many that one of the voices steering his decision was coming from J.D. Martinez.
Martinez has routinely passed on the opportunity, telling WEEI.com in 2019 that the chance to win $1 million wasn't worth it.
"I just don't want to do it. It's a lot of stress, man," he said. "You're hitting for two minutes straight, easy. Trying to hit the ball as far as you can. I remember seeing it the first time they did it when I wanted to do it and I said, 'Thank God I didn't do it.' It was just exhausting. Those guys were out there drenched.
"The All-Star Game in itself is stressful. There's so much going on. It's not even a break. You don't have time to relax. You have to be on. It's one of those things, along with that ... I'm sure if I was making a lot less I would think about it. To me, it's about the team and giving my body the rest that it needs."
Well, it turns out Martinez isn't totally against the Derby. In fact, appearing on the Red Sox Radio Network Postgame Show, the designated hitter revealed he actually has been pushing Devers to participate.
"I actually tried talking him into it," Martinez said after blasting his 18th homer in the Red Sox' 11-5 win over the Phillies, Friday night.
"I was trying to tell him to do it. I was like, 'Devers, all you have to do is go up there. Don't try and hit home runs. Just take your normal BP and you will hit it out. Just use it as a BP session.' He's 24, man. He can do it. If I was 24 I would have done it in a heartbeat. Those opportunities don't come around too much. I remember when I tried to do it in '15, I was probably 27 and I was full of energy then. I was like, 'Let's go!' Now I'm a little a bit older and it would hurt me on the back end."
Martinez, who will be joining teammates Xander Bogaerts, Matt Barnes, Nathan Eovaldi and Devers in the All-Star Game, did reiterate that the All-Star festivities could be an exhausting proposition if not approached the proper way.
"I remember my first time going to the All-Star Game. I was so geeked up with the adrenaline, on a high," he said. "You want to do everything, go to all the events. I had never experienced that so it was a dream to go. Now I feel like the older I've gotten with it, this being my fourth now, you kind of say no to a lot of things because it will drain you when you go there. It's not that much of a break. It's a show. It's the All-Star Game. If you get caught up in it it will drain you in the second half. It's just how to manage everything when you get there."