{"id":83409,"date":"2024-08-18T12:40:44","date_gmt":"2024-08-18T16:40:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=83409"},"modified":"2024-08-18T12:41:05","modified_gmt":"2024-08-18T16:41:05","slug":"mets-activate-starling-marte","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/08\/18\/mets-activate-starling-marte\/","title":{"rendered":"All-Star Returns to Mets Lineup for Wild Card Stretch Run"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Per a team announcement, the New York Mets activated outfielder <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/m\/martest01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-06-25_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Starling Marte<\/a> from the injured list on Sunday. Marte <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/08\/06\/mets-outfielder-begin-rehab-assignment\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">started a rehab assignment<\/a> just over 10 days ago and will immediately hit fifth against the Miami Marlins. In a corresponding move, New York designated veteran outfielder <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/g\/gamelbe01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.mlbtraderumors.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-06-25_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ben Gamel<\/a> for assignment.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">OF Startling Marte has been reinstated from the IL. OF <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/g\/gamelbe01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-08-18_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ben Gamel<\/a> has been designated for assignment.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 New York Mets (@Mets) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Mets\/status\/1825163451745833036?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">August 18, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Marte will return almost two months after landing on the injured list with a <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/06\/25\/starling-marte-injured-list\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">right knee bone bruise<\/a>. At that point, the Mets were already monitoring the issue for a few weeks. Though he tried to play through it, Marte and team doctors decided a stint on the injured list represented the best course of action.<\/p>\n<h2>Mets Activate Starling Marte From Injured List<\/h2>\n<p>While the Mets experienced their best stretch of the season with Marte on the injured list, manager <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/managers\/mendoca99.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Carlos Mendoza<\/a> explained why his return is important to the team.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s a big part of this team,&#8221; Mendoza told reporters on Saturday. &#8220;His bat, his speed, there\u2019s a lot. His presence on the lineup, the experience obviously. He\u2019s been in this league for a long time and had a pretty good career and we missed him. The fact that we\u2019re getting a healthy Marte here, especially where we are in the schedule, is going to be huge for our team.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">&#8220;He&#8217;s going to be a big part of this team, just like he&#8217;s been the last couple of years. But we have to be smart, we have to protect him.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/search\/search.fcgi?pid=mendoca01,mendoca99,mendoz005car&amp;search=Carlos+Mendoza&amp;utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-08-18_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Carlos Mendoza<\/a> on Starling Marte returning to the lineup: <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ypOEdR0n9a\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/ypOEdR0n9a<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 SNY (@SNYtv) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SNYtv\/status\/1825180215972102315?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">August 18, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Marte displayed his dynamic ability in 66 games this year. He hit .278\/.328\/.416 (116 wRC+) with seven homers and 12 stolen bases in 12 attempts. Additionally, the 35-year-old was hot before landing on the shelf. In his last 16 games, Marte hit .351\/.413\/.509 with four steals, 11 runs, and two doubles and triples apiece.<\/p>\n<p>New York&#8217;s offense can be a bit streaky, but adding an established All-Star bat should help immensely. That said, an underrated aspect of his return is his bad defense. In almost 500 innings in right field this year, Marte produced -9 Outs Above Average and -9 Defensive Runs Saved. This indicates that he was not making plays while also not covering a lot of ground.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">I&#8217;ve let the Marte misplay marinate for a bit and&#8230;&#8230;. yeah that defense is a literal KILLER.<\/p>\n<p>Its one thing to miss a ball that had a 95% catch rate<\/p>\n<p>its another to be as inconsistent as Martes been in RF<\/p>\n<p>The bat can only compensate so much <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Mets?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#Mets<\/a><br \/>\n<a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/MB9JNyKbIl\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/MB9JNyKbIl<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Tyler (@WardyNYM) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WardyNYM\/status\/1799517334291296651?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">June 8, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>The Mets played <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/t\/tayloty01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-08-18_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tyrone Taylor<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/m\/mcneije01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-08-18_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jeff McNeil<\/a> in right field with Marte on the injured list. Defensive metrics grade both of their performances as above average, especially Taylor&#8217;s. Recording these extra outs greatly impacted the pitching staff and their ability to keep the team in games.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps Marte&#8217;s knee issues contributed to his poor defense. But no matter the cause, the Mets will hope he&#8217;s at least serviceable in the early innings, then replace him late in games with Taylor.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Photo Credit: \u00a9 Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Per a team announcement, the New York Mets activated outfielder Starling Marte from the injured list on Sunday. Marte started a rehab assignment just over 10 days ago and will immediately hit fifth against the Miami Marlins. In a corresponding move, New York designated veteran outfielder Ben Gamel for assignment. OF Startling Marte has been [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4683,"featured_media":83423,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[22,1071,35],"tags":[1247,4683,2257,612],"class_list":["post-83409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mets","category-mlb","category-news","tag-ben-gamel","tag-carlos-mendoza","tag-jeff-mcneil","tag-starling-marte"],"modified_by":"Lewis Masella, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83409","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4683"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83409"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83409\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/83423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}