With last night’s 0-4, Starling Marte now has 47 G, 182 PA, 66 OPS+ and a .594 OPS. Using the Baseball-Reference span finder and using the first 52 games of a season (to match the Mets’ games played to date) with a minimum of 150 PA and an OPS (OPS+ not an option here) between .570 and .620 – looking to center Marte’s .594 OPS – there were 143 people besides Marte to fall within the parameters between 2017 and today.
That’s more than what I expected.
Anyway, there are several former/future Mets on the list. Using those and other big and interesting names, here’s how they ended the season:
2021 Michael Conforto – started with .619 OPS – finished with a .729 mark
2021 Eddie Rosario – started with .618 OPS – finished with a .740 mark
2019 Miguel Rojas – started with a .611 OPS – finished with a .710 mark
2019 Kevin Pillar – started with .610 OPS – finished with a .719 mark
2018 Freddy Galvis – started with a .609 OPS – finished with a .680 mark
2022 Yoan Moncada – .606/.626
2019 Jose Ramirez – .606/.806
2017 Pablo Sandoval – .606/.632
2021 Miguel Cabrera – .602/.701
2021 Jason Heyward – .599/.621
2018 Billy Hamilton – .591/.626
2021 Juan Lagares – .590/.638
2017 Dansby Swanson – .579/.636
2021 Cody Bellinger – .577/.542
2021 Andres Gimenez – .570/.633
2017 Jose Reyes – .570/.728
It would have been nice if OPS+ was available. We have to remember that 2019 was a pretty good year for offense. That .806 OPS that Ramirez finished ’19 with was a 106 OPS+. Given where he started, that was a really good outcome. But Jeff McNeil currently has a 101 OPS+ and his OPS is .720, so quite a bit different.
Conforto’s an interesting case. Recall he was lousy for four months and then the last two months of the season, he reverted to what he hit recently. From August 1 until the end of the season, Conforto had an .829 OPS. But that was Conforto’s age-28 season, while this is the age-34 season for Marte.
Let’s refine the list a little more, putting an age component on it. So, in addition to what’s listed previously, let’s have it for hitters in their age 32-36 seasons, once again to center Marte. That brings it to a much-more manageable list of 26. Let’s list all 26 and see how many PA they wound up with, along with their season-long OPS+.
| Year | Name | PA | OPS+ |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Drew Butera | 177 | 61 |
| 2017 | Brandon Moss | 362 | 85 |
| 2019 | Gordon Beckham | 240 | 68 |
| 2018 | Ian Desmond | 619 | 83 |
| 2017 | Adam Rosales | 289 | 62 |
| 2022 | Austin Nola | 397 | 91 |
| 2018 | Russell Martin | 352 | 86 |
| 2018 | Gregor Blanco | 203 | 61 |
| 2017 | Jeff Mathis | 203 | 52 |
| 2018 | Brian McCann | 216 | 76 |
| 2017 | Erick Aybar | 370 | 73 |
| 2018 | Sean Rodriguez | 173 | 63 |
| 2019 | Brandon Crawford | 560 | 74 |
| 2018 | Carlos Gomez | 408 | 76 |
| 2019 | Jason Kipnis | 511 | 84 |
| 2022 | Adam Duvall | 315 | 86 |
| 2017 | Rajai Davis | 366 | 74 |
| 2021 | Juan Lagares | 327 | 71 |
| 2022 | Yan Gomes | 293 | 75 |
| 2018 | Martin Prado | 209 | 65 |
| 2022 | Robbie Grossman | 477 | 79 |
| 2022 | Whit Merrfield | 550 | 91 |
| 2018 | Jeff Mathis | 218 | 45 |
| 2019 | Martin Maldonado | 322 | 79 |
| 2021 | Brock Holt | 260 | 60 |
| 2017 | Jose Reyes | 561 | 94 |
Here are my takeaways:
1. Not one player ended up with a 100 OPS+, with Reyes’ 94 being the best.
2. Lots of catchers and middle infielders on this list.
3. Only five players out of 26 finished with 500 PA, with Desmond the only one to top 600.
It makes sense with a preponderance of catchers and middle infielders. Clubs will put up with less offense at these up the middle positions. So, let’s expand our search back to 2012 but limit it to players who played a corner outfield position. Even expanding five more years, we get a total of four players. We retain Grossman and Gomez (who was really more of a CF) from the above list and we get:
2015 Jayson Werth, who finished with 378 PA and an 85 OPS+
2015 Shane Victorino, who finished with 204 PA and a 67 OPS+
Wow, that’s sobering. What Marte is doing here is not unprecedented but given that it’s happened only four times in the last 10 full seasons for a corner outfielder, it’s a pretty rare occurrence. And here’s how our four did the remainder of their careers:
Grossman has a 90 OPS+ this year for the Rays in 178 PA
Werth rebounded with a 97 OPS+ the following season in 606 PA. He played one more year after that to conclude his MLB career.
Victorino’s career was over
Gomez put up a 65 OPS+ in 99 PA in his final MLB season.
Again, that’s sobering. A few days ago, after an article here about Marte, he proceeded to post a 3-hit game. However, since that outburst, he’s 2-15 with a .321 OPS. And one of those two hits was off a position player pitching in a blowout. It would be great if this would jinx him again into another big day.
But don’t hold your breath.