Minimized veteran has rewarded the NY Mets for their continued faith in him

Year four of four tends to be a lost season for many older free agent signings. The New York Mets knew what they were getting into when they signed Starling Marte who’d turn 37 at the end of his contract. Following a rather monstrous 2021 season where he hit .310 and stole 47 bases, the team threw away any doubts and signed him to be their center fielder…erm right fielder. He never did play much center did he?

You know how it all went. An All-Star in year one before getting hurt, Marte spent the last two years again missing around half the year. He played poorly in 2023, slightly better in 2024, and this year wasn’t considered to be anything more than right-handed depth at the DH spot and maybe some outfield.

Relegated almost exclusively to hitting, Marte is somewhat quietly rewarding the Mets for their faith in him. A trade candidate for most of the offseason, it turns out they needed him after all.

Starling Marte is a fraction of the player he once was yet continues to add value to the Mets lineup

Through 183 plate appearances, Marte is batting .259/.346/.380 with 7 doubles and 4 home runs. The absence of power is nothing new. He slugged just .324 in 2023. This was an inevitability with him.

What crept up a little faster was the lack of stolen bases. He has attempted just 6, getting caught twice and successfully stealing 4. Rule changes in Major League Baseball favoring base thieves benefitted him before. This year, despite the OBP now being just one point shy of where it was in 2022, Marte just isn’t running enough.

That’s the bad. What about the good? Although mostly a singles hitter at this point, it’s welcomed for a Mets ball club getting plenty of power from other places. You want your DH to be one of your best power bats. Wants and reality are different. The Mets should gladly take what Marte is giving them. The ability to get on base has had them batting him higher in the lineup more often than usual lately. A look at his numbers outside of March/April helps explain the reason for their ongoing faith.

Marte batted .300/.404/.400 in May, .291/.355/.400 in June, and has started off July well with a 4 for 11 performance, putting him at .364/.364/.455. Half of his 4 home runs came in the first month but so did his roughest patch as a hitter. He went into May slashing only .173/.290/.327.

Onto his third straight month of putting together quality results, it’s a matter of changing your perception of who Marte is and what he can offer that’ll have you in agreement about his usefulness. He isn’t close to worth his contract. The 24 doubles, 16 home runs, and even 18 stolen bases he had in 2022 looks ridiculous. He has only 27 doubles and 16 home runs since.

If the Mets are going to keep him around and play him, batting him high in the order makes sense as long as this continues. He is hitting lefties much better lately and has 2-hit games in each of his recent days as the team’s leadoff hitter. As Rising Apple’s Derek Praschak recently declared, Marte is an unexpected X-factor for this ball club. In the absence of Jesse Winker and what is becoming a lost season for Mark Vientos, Marte is stepping up.