Ketel Marte

Position: 2B/OF
Bats/Throws: S/R
Date of Birth: 10/12/1993 (28)

Traditional Stats: 90 G, 108 H, 14 HR, 50 RBI, .318 BA, .377 OBP
Advanced Stats: 1.8 WAR, 139 wRC+, 8.9 Barrel%

Rundown

Sparking from the discussion this morning of four potential trade ideas, let’s do a deeper dive into Ketel Marte, the 28-year-old switch-hitting outfielder and middle infielder on the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Marte began his career as a member of the Seattle Mariners, signing as an international free agent in 2010. Marte was called up to make his debut five years later in 2015 where he slashed .283/.351/.402 across his first 57 major league games.

At 22, Marte was the Mariners full-time shortstop, playing in 119 games. He struggled putting up a .287 on-base percentage with 84 strikeouts in 119 games. Additionally, he hit the injured list three times that season.

In November 2016 the Mariners would deal Marte to the Diamondbacks. Marte was traded along with current Met Taijuan Walker for Jean Segura, Mitch Haniger, and Zac Curtis.

Marte’s 2017 is forgetful but he did show signs of improvement, raising his on-base percentage back to .345. He also showed a touch more pop with five home runs across 73 games. His previous high was two in a season.

Marte’s 2018 was the first sign he could be a plus-bat and not a slap hitter who had the occasional home run. In 2018, Marte hit 26 doubles, a league-leading 12 triples, 14 home runs, and decreased his strikeouts to just 79 over 153 games. For the first time since his debut, he was a better-than-league-average hitter with a 102 OPS+.

Marte shocked the world in 2019. In 144 games, he set career highs across the board. Marte his 32 home runs, 36 doubles, drove in 92 baserunners and slashed .329/.389/.592 on his way to a fourth-place MVP finish.

His numbers tailed off in the shortened season and it appeared that new-found power was gone with two long balls in 45 games. Maybe 2019 was just a fluke.

But 2021 was an example that 2019 could happen again. He had bad luck with a hamstring injury that was caused by him trying to leg out a single in April and then later dealt with a nagging issue in his other hamstring. Still, his box score slash was spectacular in 90 games at .318/.377/.532 with an OPS+ of 143.

His StatCast numbers were just as good.

 

Package

The suggestion made this morning was J.D. Davis, Ronny Mauricio, J.T. Ginn, and David Peterson for Marte. That’s not going to happen. The Diamondbacks need higher-ranked prospects or younger major league talent to move Marte.

Jim Bowden of The Athletic suggests the Mets move Francisco Alvarez and Brett Baty for him. Part of Marte’s prices comes with hum under team control through 2024.

I don’t think the Mets want to part with one of Alvarez or Baty and certainly not both. Marte is a below-average outfielder and hasn’t played shortstop since his first two seasons. The Diamondbacks already are planning to keep Marte at second base for the majority of 2022, a position the Mets have blocked. Possibly a deal centered around Jeff McNeil would fit both sides better.

My Thoughts

Marte has a severe injury history but when healthy is one of the best players in baseball, plus his team-friendly contract certainly won’t make it easy for the Diamondbacks to part ways with him so quickly.

It’s unknown if Arizona wants to deal their star but it’s always assumed good players on bad teams are available. Marte is someone to build around but the D-Backs might not compete until the last season of his contract in 2024.

If I’m the Mets I like the idea of Marte more than the actual execution of a deal. He’s limited defensively to second base and the Mets already have two players logged into the position for the next two seasons. His bat is incredible and his switch-hitting would create possibly the best Mets lineup in history next season. The deal wouldn’t make sense without some additional moves but I say go all-in on a World Series the next two-three seasons and go from there.

The post MMO Trade Profile: Ketel Marte, 2B/OF first appeared on Metsmerized Online.