Starling Marte

Starling Javier Marte (born October 9, 1988) is a Dominican professional baseball outfielder for the Arizona Diamondbacks of Major League Baseball (MLB). He made his MLB debut in 2012 with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Marte is an MLB All-Star, and a two-time Gold Glove Award winner.

Not to be confused with Sterling Marlin.
Starling Marte
Marte with the Pirates
Arizona Diamondbacks – No. 2
Outfielder
Born: (1988-10-09) October 9, 1988
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Bats: Right Throws: Right
MLB debut
July 26, 2012, for the Pittsburgh Pirates
MLB statistics
(through August 12, 2020)
Batting average.289
Home runs110
Runs batted in429
Stolen bases241
Teams
Career highlights and awards

Early life

Marte grew up on the outskirts of Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic.[1] After his mother's death when he was nine, his grandmother took care of him.[2]

Career

Minor leagues (2007–2012)

He signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2007, and was primarily a center fielder during his time in the minors.[1] In 2010, Marte played 60 games for the Pirates' Class A affiliate, the Bradenton Marauders, ending with a batting average of .315. He hit 16 doubles and five triples that season while also stealing 22 bases.[3] Marte represented the Pittsburgh Pirates at the 2011 All-Star Futures Game.[4] In 2011, while playing for the Altoona Curve, Marte was an Eastern League Mid-Season All-Star[5] and Post-Season All-Star, a Baseball America Double-A All-Star,[6] a Topps Double-A All-Star,[7] and a Milb.com organization All-Star.[8] On August 15, 2011, Marte was named the EL's player of the week.[9] Marte also won the Eastern League Batting Title with a .332 batting average[10] and was named the Eastern League Rookie of the Year.[11] Marte was added to the Pirates 40-man roster on November 18, 2011.[12]

Marte was ranked number 73 on Baseball America's Top 100 Prospects list in February 2012[13] and number 56 on Baseball Prospectus's Top 101 Prospect list in February 2012.[14] In 2012, while playing for the Indianapolis Indians, Marte was named an International League Mid-Season All-Star.[15] On July 2, 2012, Marte was named the International League player of the week.[16]

Pittsburgh Pirates (2012–2019)

On July 26, 2012, the Pirates promoted Marte from Indianapolis Indians,[17] becoming the first graduate of the Pirates' Latin American complex, located in the Dominican Republic, to reach the major leagues.[1] He hit a home run on the first pitch he faced in his major league career, off Houston Astros pitcher Dallas Keuchel.[18] The hit made Marte the third player in Pirates' franchise history to homer in his first at-bat and the first to do it since Don Leppert in 1961. He also became the first Pirate to homer on the first pitch of his major league career since Walter Mueller did so in 1922.[19]

Marte and the Pirates finalized a 6-year, $31 million deal on March 28, 2014.[20][21] On August 18, 2014, Marte had his second career multi-homer game in a 7–3 loss to the Atlanta Braves. He won his first career Rawlings Gold Glove Award in 2015.[22]

On April 18, 2017, Marte was suspended 80 games without pay due to use of Nandrolone, a type of performance-enhancing drug that violates the MLB's drug agreement. He was also deemed ineligible to play in post-season competition, though the Pirates failed to qualify.[23] Marte issued a statement afterwards,[24] reading:

I have been informed that I have tested positive in one of the tests that are regularly done in my job. In this very difficult moment I apologize to my family, my fans and baseball in general. Neglect and lack of knowledge have led me to this mistake with the high price to pay of being away from the field that I enjoy and love so much. With much embarrassment and helplessness, I ask for forgiveness for unintentionally disrespecting so many people who have trusted in my work and have supported me so much. I promise to learn the lesson that this ordeal has left me. God bless you.

He was activated on July 18, 2017.[25] In 2017, he batted .275 with 21 stolen bases.[26]

In 2018, Marte batted .277 with 33 stolen bases.[26] He and Jean Segura were the only two MLB players to have stolen 20 or more bases each season since 2013.[27]

On defense in 2019, he had a -11 Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) rating, the lowest in the major leagues among center fielders.[28] However, on offense, he hit .295 and set career highs with 23 home runs and 82 runs batted in.[26]

Arizona Diamondbacks (2020–present)

On January 27, 2020 the Pirates traded Marte and cash considerations to the Arizona Diamondbacks in exchange for infielder Liover Peguero, pitcher Brennan Malone, and international bonus pool signing money.[29]

Scouting report

In November 2011, Larry Broadway, the Pirates' director of Minor League operations, said of Marte, "An exciting player to watch, Starling has very good athleticism and speed to go along with the ability to hit. The scary thing is that he is starting to mature physically and is starting to develop power as well. His speed-power-hit combo is going to make him a very fun player to see mature."[8]

Personal life

Marte has three children, sons Starling Jr. and Smerling and daughter Tiana, with his late wife, Noelia Brazoban. In May 2020, Brazoban suffered a heart attack and died while in the hospital awaiting surgery on a broken ankle.[30]

gollark: Honestly I've never really needed that, but it's useful if you need to run stuff which only runs on different OSes.
gollark: You can also run useful software!
gollark: Inasmuch as standard markdown exists.
gollark: I'm relatively sure standard markdown *does* need double line breaks to add a line break in the output.
gollark: Well, planning to run.

See also

References
  1. Biertempfel, Rob (July 27, 2012). "Biertempfel: Marte is fruit of Pirates' labor". Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
  2. Biertempfel, Rob (July 26, 2012). "Marte homers, Pirates win in rookie's debut". Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
  3. "Marte Promoted to Pittsburgh". Bradenton Marauders. Minor League Baseball. July 26, 2012.
  4. Langosh, Jenifer (June 23, 2011). "Marte to play for World at Futures Game". Pittsburgh Pirates.
  5. Wild, Danny (June 29, 2011). "Cats' McDade among Eastern All-Stars".
  6. "2011 Classification All-Star Teams". Baseball America. September 16, 2011.
  7. Passanisi, Mike (November 16, 2011). "Marte Selected To Topps' Double-A All-Star Squad".
  8. Marshall, Ashley (November 30, 2011). "Pirates Organization All-Stars".
  9. Parker, John (August 15, 2011). "Offensive Players of the Week".
  10. Vukovcan, Mike (September 5, 2011). "Marte Wins Eastern League Batting Title". KDKA CBS Pittsburgh.
  11. Rosario, Bill (September 4, 2011). "Starling Marte Wins Rookie of the Year". Minor League Baseball.
  12. "Pirates set 40-man roster". Pittsburgh Pirates. November 18, 2011.
  13. "2012 Top 100 Prospects". Baseball America. February 21, 2012.
  14. Goldstein, Kevin (February 13, 2012). "Future Shock: Top 101 Prospects". Baseball Prospectus.
  15. "International League All-Star Team" (PDF). International League. June 27, 2012.
  16. "Starling Marte & Pat Neshek Honored as International Players of the Week" (PDF). International League. July 2, 2012.
  17. Singer, Tom (July 25, 2012). "Top prospect Marte to join Bucs as Meek sent down". Pittsburgh Pirates.
  18. Singer, Tom (July 26, 2012). "Starling in the making: Rookie homers on first pitch". Pittsburgh Pirates.
  19. "Starling Marte homers on 1st major league pitch as Pirates upend Astros". ESPN. July 26, 2012.
  20. Singer, Tom (March 27, 2014). "Marte's six-year extension with Bucs official". MLB.com. Retrieved March 28, 2014.
  21. "Marte, Pirates finalize $31 million, 6-year deal". ESPN.com. Associated Press. March 28, 2014. Retrieved March 28, 2014.
  22. Miller, Doug (November 10, 2015). "Defensive standouts nab Gold Glove Awards". MLB.com. Retrieved November 10, 2015.
  23. Berry, Adam. "Marte suspended 80 games for PEDs". MLB.com. Retrieved April 18, 2017.
  24. "Marte offers apology for PED suspension, Pirates sound angry at him in statement". CBSSports.com. Retrieved 2017-07-19.
  25. Calcaterra, Craig (2017-07-18). "Starling Marte to be activated today after PED suspension". HardballTalk. Retrieved 2017-07-19.
  26. "Starling Marte Stats". Baseball-Reference.com.
  27. "Jean Segura Stats, Fantasy & News". MLB.com.
  28. "Major League Leaderboards » 2019 » Center Fielders » Fielding Statistics | FanGraphs Baseball". Fangraphs.com. 2019-01-01. Retrieved 2019-10-07.
  29. https://www.post-gazette.com/sports/pirates/2020/01/27/starling-marte-mlb-trade-news-rumors-brennan-malone-liover-peguero/stories/202001270092
  30. Chung, Gabrielle (May 18, 2020). "Arizona Diamondbacks' Starling Marte Mourns Sudden Death of His Wife: 'A Moment of Indescribable Pain'". People. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
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