Starling Marte has been on a tear the last 11 games. In that span, he’s slashed .409/.469/.636 in 49 PA. It’s been enough to raise his season-long OPS 53 points. He’s now tied with Brandon Nimmo for the team lead in bWAR, with a 2.7 mark. While fWAR (1.8) isn’t nearly as bullish, it still sees him on track for the mid-3s total that was expected when he signed as a free agent.
Looking at his numbers from last year, the big differences offensively is that he’s not drawing as many walks and he’s not having quite the same success on the basepaths. His BB% has dropped from 8.2%, which was a career-high, to 5.1%, which is just a tick below his 5.3 lifetime average. Meanwhile, after being successful on over 90% of his 52 chances in 2021, Marte has just 10 steals in 16 tries this year, a 63% success rate.
Yet perhaps the biggest question mark around Marte is how to rate his defensive play. He was asked to play right field for the first time ever as a major leaguer this year and from an eye test point of view, it’s hard not to be impressed with how he’s handled himself in that unfamiliar role. The only thing that seems off is that Marte gets a bit tentative when approaching the outfield wall.
Yet, the advanced defensive systems don’t agree on Marte’s outfield play this season. DRS is bullish, giving him a +6. But both UZR and Statcast numbers think he’s been below average defensively. UZR has him at (-2.4) and both OAA and RAA have him at (-3) for the season. Since fWAR uses both UZR and Statcast numbers in its calculations, it’s easy to see why his number there trails what Marte has at bWAR.
When the Mets signed Marte, many thought that he was going to be in center field, with Brandon Nimmo moving over to a corner spot. One of the many good moves Buck Showalter made was moving Marte to right and keeping Nimmo in the middle of the diamond. Nimmo is positive in all four advanced defensive metrics, following up last year’s solid numbers. And anyone who saw his running, leaping catch yesterday to rob Jesus Sanchez of a hit knows how much Nimmo has improved defensively.
No one in their right mind would have moved Nimmo to RF. If Marte had played center, we would have had Mark Canha playing right. Canha has played all three outfield positions this year for the Mets and his overall advanced defensive numbers in the three spots is a (-2) DRS and a (-0.5) UZR. Canha wouldn’t have been awful as the everyday right fielder but he’s done less harm in left.
Meanwhile, diving deeper into Marte’s offensive numbers, we see him pretty much performing to his career averages in the triple slash categories and plate discipline numbers. The biggest outlier there is a K% 2.4% lower than his lifetime mark. Marte has had big fluctuations in BABIP throughout his time in the majors, with his .372 mark in 2021 being the third-highest mark of his career. Yet, he has “just” a lifetime .344 mark in the category. So far, he has a .336 mark here in 2022.
So, what does it all mean?
In one way, it seems Marte has given the Mets everything they should have expected, perhaps more. Yet, somehow it seems a tad underwhelming. He may not be a threat to hit 30 homers or drive in 100 runs or steal 30 bases or win a Gold Glove Award. But he shouldn’t be defined by what he’s not. The ones who end up being underrated are the ones who do everything well, without being exceptional in any area. And that may be the perfect description of 2022 Marte.
The bottom line is that Marte has a 133 wRC+, which is borderline All-Star level performance for a corner outfielder. For a point of reference, Michael Conforto had a lifetime 124 wRC+ as a Met. Marte has more than adequately replaced Conforto and done it at significantly fewer dollars than Conforto was seeking as a free agent. He’s one of the reasons this year has been so enjoyable for Mets fans.