The Triple-A rehab assignment for Starling Marte has not gone quite as planned. Marte, who is recovering from a concussion, is 1-for-12 in his first three games of a four game rehab assignment. In those 12 at bats, he has struck out five times in three games.
While the statistics are not meeting goals, Indianapolis manager Dean Treanor said that there have been no health setbacks. In addition, Treanor said that the inactivity recovering from the concussion has led to Marte having issues regaining his timing at the plate.
“It’s obviously making sure that no other symptoms crop up,” Treanor said. “That is the main thing. The other thing is that, the first day, his timing was off. We want to get that timing back at the plate. He has looked fine in the outfield, but the main issues are making sure that no concussion symptoms come back and that he can make it through the games and gets that timing back.”
Treanor reported that there have been no issues with concussion symptoms or any other health issues for Marte in the rehab assignment and during the workouts during it.
With Andrew McCutchen likely going on the DL, getting Marte back to rolling in Pittsburgh is paramount. Marte started in centerfield for Indianapolis on Tuesday night, marking a possible sign of the near future for him.
Ryan has been following Indianapolis baseball for most of his life, and the Pirates since they became the affiliate in 2005. He began writing for Pirates Prospects in 2013, in a stint that ran through 2016 (with no service time manipulation played in). Ryan rejoined the team in 2022, covering Indianapolis once again. He has covered the Pirates in four different big league stadiums. Ryan was also fortunate enough to cover the 2015 Futures Game in Cincinnati.
Walker back in the line up tonight. Keep the faith alive 🙂
After any lengthy time off, players usually lose their timing, so I doubt that the Pirates are worried about him hitting in AAA. Marte strikes out and will strike out, he is a free swinger, that is what they do, what I am looking for is how much contact he is making when he does hit the ball, is he hitting into bad luck, is everything weakly hit, he struck out 5 times but he hit the ball somehow, what kind of contact was it. The question is, when is he going to get that timing back? Look at Walker, a little over a week off and he lost his timing, needed more rehab. I would hate to bring Marte up now without enough rehab, but they might be forced to bring him up too fast, they need a centerfielder.
Marte’s struggles are no surprise to me, and I think he may just bring them back to Pittsburgh. I will never know how they allowed this young man to get past AA with such atrocious plate discipline. It’s a shame, because he could be a really great player if only he could learn the strike zone and how to recognize a slider in the dirt from a fastball down the middle
I am not sure what aggravates me more, Marte’s swinging at sliders down away in the dirt or taking fastballs right down the middle. It’s like he’s deciding before the pitch whether he’s going to swing or not. But I do think he can get better and when he does he has the potential to be awesome.
I’m with you guys…hard to get excited about a guy with a .716 OPS.
He hit .370 (OPS = .870) with Altoona in 2011 and .347 (OPS = .847) with Indy in 2012. Easy to overlook the combined 191 SO to 50 BB with those kind of numbers.
You are right of course. Marte has not yet learned how to grind at bats and spoil pitcher’s pitches – what you hope for in a lead off hitter.
Amazing stat – In his Pirate career, Marte has worked to a total of eight 3-0 counts (Total of 991 AB’s from 2012 to this year). For contrast, Pedro Alvarez this year alone has a total of seventeen 3-0 counts (Total of 354 AB’s).
I’m seeing 27 3-0 counts, but to the large point Marte gets on base gets on base a better rate than Alvarez and has been the better hitter.
Marte does his damage on the outer half of the plate, so it is a slim margin between swing and missing and making productive contact. He doesn’t profile to ever walk much, and isn’t really an ideal leadoff hitter, one would hope the his chase rates come down a bit and thus strikeouts, but he wasn’t going to learn this crushing AA pitching.
However even as currently constructed Marte is a valuable hitter, he doesn’t pop out much (which is the equivalent of a strikeout.), has one of the highest percentage of infield hits since joining the majors, and currently 2nd in the league in reaching on errors. Combine that with being one of the most valuable base runners in baseball and a near elite fielder and he is a very good player. Is there a ceiling he’ll hit with his current plate discipline yes, but it is a bit myopic to disparage a
player because he doesn’t fit some ideal .
That’s an incredible stat. Lol. I mean, one thing I’d mention is that considering Marte’s ability to run, and Pedro’s power, it wouldn’t be surprising to see pitchers going at Marte more often than Pedro. But 8, 3-0 counts is ridiculously bad.
I would have to imagine, unless Hurdle goes off the wall, that Marte will be in CF on Tuesday and batting 2nd behind JayHay with Polanco batting 3rd. It doesn’t make much sense to move JayHay out of the leadoff spot
Josh Harrison’s 2014 splits:
http://espn.go.com/mlb/player/splits/_/id/30934/josh-harrison
Versus Righties: .305 Average
Versus Lefties: .303 Average
With Runners On: .370 Average
With Runners in Scoring Postion: .373 Average
Polanco’s numbers don’t compare. .222 Average with runners on, .202 Average with runners in scoring position
So you are suggesting: 1) Polanco, 2) Marte, 3) Harrison …. ?
1) Marte 2) Polanco 3)Harrison
Actually, based on this year’s numbers alone, I would consider batting Martin at leadoff.
1. Martin
2. Polanco
3. Harrison
4. Walker (If healthy), Otherwise Snider / Davis
5. Marte
6. Snider / Davis
7. Mercer
8. Snider / Davis (If Walker healthy), Martinez / Insert AAA callup here
9. Pitcher
I know that sounds crazy, but Martin has really improved his OBP & AVE this year, and has that delayed steal / backdoor slide into second down pat.
There is a reason Martin bats lower in the order. Putting him at the top will cause him to get more plate appearances, and the Pirates don’t wanna wear him out running the bases. If Martin played anywhere else but catcher, I’d agree with you.
Apparently Hurdle agrees. Martin batted third tonight, Harrison first.
Monday night* But I’d have to agree he is the clear option to be Center fielder I don’t think that want Polanco moving around