Mandatory Credit: Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports
Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer taking the mound on the same day wasn’t the only thing New York Mets fans had to look forward to in Sunday afternoon’s Grapefruit League matchup with the St. Louis Cardinals.
As manager Buck Showalter hinted at on Saturday afternoon, newly signed outfielder Starling Marte also made his highly anticipated Mets debut. The 33-year old has been working his way back from an oblique injury and has been progressing very well.
Despite having only appeared in a minor league game prior to Saturday’s action, Marte showed no signs of rust out there.
Marte struck out in his first at-bat against right-hander Dakota Hudson. He then picked up his first hit of the spring in his second plate appearance, rolling a double down the third baseline.
Two batters later, Marte showed off his speed and wits on the base-paths. Mark Canha blooped a single in front of Harrison Bader in center, and Marte got a tremendous read from second to beat the throw home and score the Mets’ fifth run of the game.
Marte also made a handful of plays in his first-ever action in right field, including a nice running catch on a Dylan Carlson liner to help Scherzer get out of the fifth inning. Showalter mentioned postgame how impressed he was with the ground he covered out there.
Marte himself said postgame that he’d prefer to play center, but the Mets seem to like the idea of him and Canha occupying the corner outfield spots with Brandon Nimmo up the middle.
Either way, Marte was happy to finally get back out there and in the swing of things. He said he felt good both at the plate and in the field, and he’ll continue to follow the team’s program moving forward to get him up to speed for Opening Day.
As we saw briefly on Saturday, Marte’s presence brings a whole new dynamic to this Mets team. Last season with the Athletics and Marlins, he led the majors with 47 stole bases, hit 12 homers, 27 doubles, and posted a .383 OBP, and .841 OPS over 120 games.
