It was only 10 days ago that things clicked for Ketel Marte.
The Diamondbacks were in Seattle, and their switch-hitting lineup centerpiece had struck out in each of his first three trips to the plate. As he dug in for his fourth — in the left-handed batter’s box, the side from which Marte feels least comfortable — he took two pitches out of the zone from Mariners right-hander Erik Swanson. The third pitch was a fastball at the top of the zone, and Marte destroyed it. The ball left his barrel at 106 mph and landed 426 feet away in right-center for a home run.
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“I was like, ‘Damn, that’s my swing,'” Marte said earlier this week. “‘That’s the guy who was playing in 2019.'”
Of course, the idea that it took Marte until Sept. 12 to find his groove seems ridiculous when looking at his batting line. Entering Tuesday, Marte was batting .327/.387/.524 in 328 plate appearances. He has an .892 OPS over the past two months, dating to his return from a hamstring injury. If there were questions about him offensively — and after he had just a .732 OPS in last year’s pandemic-shortened season, there were — Marte seems to have fully answered them in 2021.
He is a .296 batter as a lefty this season, and that’s his weak side. As a righty, he is hitting .396/.450/.758. Opposing left-handers might as well give him the Barry Bonds treatment. “You can see I got a couple homers oppo,” said Marte, who has three home runs to the opposite field. “It’s not easy to hit an oppo-taco homer. I feel like my pop is back.”
Marte’s resurgence in 2021 answers a big and crucial question for the Diamondbacks — How good is their franchise player? — but it also raises a few others Arizona must mull. One has to do with his defensive position. Marte has played mostly center field this year, although he has not graded well there, according to defensive metrics. He rates negatively at the position according to Outs Above Average (minus-4) and by Defensive Runs Saved (minus-15).
In past seasons, the Diamondbacks have asked Marte to bounce among center, second base and sometimes shortstop, something Marte said he is willing to do. “When I’m healthy, I can play everywhere, no problem,” he said. But general manager Mike Hazen said the Diamondbacks are leaning toward keeping Marte at one spot in the future. “We’re going to probably zone in a little bit more on one position,” the GM said. “That is my gut feeling right now.”
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Playing one position exclusively — specifically second base — would appear to be Marte’s preference, too. That would give him his best shot at his goal of winning a Gold Glove. “I’m not going to get one like that — playing center, short and second. I’m not going to get a Gold Glove like that,” he said. “If I play one year at one position, I think I can get it.”
Notably, five of his previous six starts have come at second, the result of a few hints he dropped to manager Torey Lovullo. “He said it quickly in passing: ‘I’m good at second base. I’m good at second base,'” Lovullo said. So, catching his star’s drift, Lovullo slotted him there more often. With a bevy of young center-field options going into next year — converts such as Daulton Varsho and Pavin Smith, along with true center fielders Jake McCarthy and prospect Alek Thomas — second base very well could be Marte’s home.
That is, if he’s still with the Diamondbacks. More than where to play Marte in 2022, the Diamondbacks must determine whether the 27-year-old is more valuable on their roster or as a trade chip, a calculation that must take into account the landscape of the National League West. The Diamondbacks will finish with one of the worst seasons in club history, whereas the Giants and Dodgers already have won more than 100 games. The Padres have disappointed, but they’re still better than the Diamondbacks and have a brighter immediate future.
That same immediate future covers the rest of Marte’s contract with the Diamondbacks, which he signed early in the 2018 season. Marte will make only $8 million next season, the final guaranteed year of the deal. But the team has two affordable options on him for the 2023 and 2024 seasons, respectively worth $11 million and $13 million. It’s an incredibly team-friendly deal for a superstar player, which is also why other clubs will look at Arizona’s bleak chances over the next few years and attempt to acquire the switch-hitter.
“I’m sure a quarter of the league is going to call us on Ketel Marte,” Hazen said. “It’s happened every offseason, it’s happened every trade deadline, it’s going to happen again. The reason is he posts .900-plus OPSs with power and he hits from both sides of the plate and he’s a dynamic player, and I believe one of the better players in the league. It’s just going to happen.”
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So far, Hazen has not seemed very willing to move his star. He didn’t seriously entertain offers at the trade deadline, although the market conditions probably are better for moving a player with Marte’s remaining control in the offseason when more suitors will be involved. Hazen might not want to deal his best player, but he also hates speaking in absolutes. “I’m looking at every opportunity to continue to amass talent to the level that will allow us to be a heck of a lot better than we are today,” he said.
Would the Diamondbacks be able to get enough value in exchange for Marte to make it worth giving up one of the best players in the game who is under cheap control for three more years? The only way to find out is by listening, but focusing on Marte’s remaining control eludes an even bigger question. If the Diamondbacks think Marte is so rare a player, perhaps their top priority should be keeping him beyond the end of his current deal.
Hazen already seemed to be thinking at least vaguely along those lines.
“At some point, we need to start locking down on guys who are going to be here as we grind through this phase that we’re in right now, coming back up the other side, which we’re intending to start doing,” he said. “I think we’re going to have to have players of his caliber on our team.”
This far out, though, it’s difficult to project how likely it would be for a second extension to be worked out. A lot can change between now and 2024. One thing might alter that picture sooner than later. According to a source, Marte is considering switching from his agent to Scott Boras, who is known to push his clients toward testing the open market.
Right now, though, Marte said he’d like to remain a Diamondback. They are the team that gave him a long-term deal before anyone suspected he’d be an All-Star, and that still means something to him. “I want to stay here for the rest of my career,” he said. But he also knows the business of baseball. So much about his career is not up to him, including where he’ll play — in more ways than one — and for how long. He’s mentally prepared for whatever happens this winter.
“Will I be traded? I don’t know. I don’t control that,” he said. “I play right now with the Arizona organization, but we play for 30 teams. We don’t know what’s going on next year, and I’ll be ready. If they trade me, I’ll be ready to play for whatever team trades for me.”
(Photo: Joe Nicholson / USA Today)