The Diamondbacks that second baseman Ketel Marte has been reinstated from the 10-day injured list. Outfielder Jorge Barrosa has been optioned to Triple-A Reno as the corresponding move.
Marte was having an elite season prior to landing on the IL with a sprained left ankle. In 116 games this year, he has hit 30 home runs and drawn walks at a 10.4% clip. His .298/.370/.560 batting line translates to a wRC+ of 150, indicating he’s been 50% better than the league average hitter. He has also stolen six bases and been given strong grades for his second base defense, leading to a tally of 5.3 wins above replacement in 116 games, per FanGraphs.
The ankle injury put that on pause, but not for long. He landed on the IL August 19, so he’s now back after just a little more than a minimum IL stint. That’s a tremendous development for the Snakes, though it could lead to some challenging lineup decisions for manager Torey Lovullo.
It’s possible that Marte will need some time as the designated hitter before retaking his second base job on an everyday basis. If that’s the case, the DH slot could get a little crowded. Joc Pederson has been the regular in that spot, at least against righties, as he’s usually shielded from lefties. The club acquired first baseman Josh Bell while Christian Walker was on the IL but Walker is now back as well.
The Diamondbacks haven’t shown any inclination to put Pederson in the field this year, so he seems to be DH only. Bell nor Walker aren’t realistic options anywhere other than first base, so one of them needs to be the DH if both are in the lineup.
Perhaps that will simply allow the skipper to rotate some down time to those veteran players as the club pushes towards the stretch run, but the games they are playing are plenty meaningful. The Diamondbacks are 79-62, putting them in the second Wild Card position. They are only half a game behind the Padres, who have the top spot, though Atlanta and the Mets are just 2.5 games back of the Snakes. Luis Guillorme and Kevin Newman have been platooning at the keystone lately but figure to lose out on playing time whenever Marte takes over that position.
Nothing unhealthy about snakes in a pond
I have had it with these motherlovin’ snakes in this motherlovin’ pond!
Getting Walker and Marte back make the Dbacks less susceptible to LHP. Hopefully, Moreno and Gurriel return soon, as well.
Once the Dbacks determine Walker is a full go, he will get 100% of the 1B ABs. The Dbacks have eased Walker back into the lineup playing him every other game since his return from the IL. I’m guessing he will be at 1B from this point forward. Simarly, they will ease Marte back into the lineup with ABs at DH and days off before he returns to 2B full-time.
I really like the bench options Lovullo will have. On any given day: Josh Bell, Joc Pederson, Randle Grichuk, Kevin Neumann, Adrian Del Castillo, Pavin Smith, etc.
Joc found new life again with Arizona. He’s having a really nice season.
Welcome back! I had you as MVP (without looking closely admittedly)! Why’d you have to get hurt? Ohtani is great and an excellent baserunners but I’m not throwing out the value of filling a position everyday (middle infield at that…and good defense there). Similarly I had Hunter Greene as Cy Young but he got hurt.
Marte Par-tay
Smarte pants