Indians' Martin battling life-threatening bacterial infection

Cleveland Indians center fielder Leonys Martin is recovering from a life-threatening bacterial infection that ravaged internal organs throughout his bloodstream, president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti told reporters on Monday.

Cleveland Indians center fielder Leonys Martin is recovering from a life-threatening bacterial infection that ravaged internal organs throughout his bloodstream, president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti told reporters on Monday.

Martin remains hospitalized in the Cleveland Clinic. He became ill after a game on Aug. 7.

"Leonys is currently in stable condition," Antonetti told reporters prior to a road game against the Cincinnati Reds. "He continues to get treatment at the Cleveland Clinic. And we're optimistic that he'll have a full recovery."

Martin, 30, was taken to the hospital on Wednesday as his condition quickly worsened. Later in the week, his health disintegrated even further, prompting Indians manager Terry Francona to ask for prayers.

"Leonys had a bacterial infection that entered his bloodstream and when it entered his bloodstream it produced toxins," Antonetti said. "Those toxins did damage to his internal organs and the functioning of those organs was compromised, and it was severe.

"Thankfully, he's made a lot of progress in the last 24 to 36 hours and he's regained a lot of the organ function. And so, we're optimistic and he's on a good path right now and we're hopeful that he'll have a full recovery."

Antonetti offered that Martin still faces a long recovery period and may not play against this season.

"I haven't even thought about baseball," said Antonetti. "He's got a long path to get to full health in front of him. It's going to take him some time, but we're in a much better spot today than we were 24 to 36 hours ago."

Doctors are still running tests to pinpoint what type of bacterial infection Martin contracted.

Cleveland acquired Martin and starting pitcher Kyle Dowdy from Detroit for shortstop prospect Willi Castro just before the non-waiver trade deadline.

He played in six games before becoming ill on Aug. 7. Francona initially revealed that Martin was suffering from an intestinal disorder but didn't get into details.

Francona addressed Martin's condition again a few days later, without sharing a diagnosis.

"We have to respect what the family wishes so we are," Francona told reporters. "We talked to the team a little bit. We just need to respect their privacy right now.

"What I would say, if you believe in saying prayers and things like that, keep him in your thoughts. But he's in a good place. He's at the Clinic and he's getting good care."

Since he was acquired, Martin has five hits, including two homers, with four RBIs in 15 at-bats. Overall, he is batting .255 with 11 homers and 33 RBIs in 84 games this season.

Martin also had played for the Texas Rangers, Seattle Mariners and Chicago Cubs since reaching the majors in 2011.

--Field Level Media

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)