The Mets not-so-secret weapon in the lineup

Also - the Mets powered up and Clay Holmes gave them a strong effort on the mound in their 9-2 win over the Braves.

The Canadian Press

What’s up with the Mets? ⚾️

• The Mets’ offense showed up for a second consecutive again, homering six times and scoring nine runs in Saturday’s win (box)

• RHP Clay Holmes bounced back from his rocky last start, allowing just two runs and walking two batters in 6.1 innings of work

• The bullpen was excellent, as LHP Gregory Soto, RHP Tyler Rogers, and RHP Edwin Díaz combined for 2.2 scoreless innings of relief

• 2B Jeff McNeil and DH Mark Vientos both had multihomer games, responsible for six of the Mets’ runs by themselves

• LF Starling Marte had a fantastic night both at the plate and in the field, going 3-for-3 with a run scored, a homer, two stolen bases, and a walk alongside an outfield assist

• Despite going 1-for-9 with RISP and leaving nine runners stranded, the Mets still managed to score nine runs on 11 hits

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Roster Moves 📰

• RHP Frankie Montas was placed on the 15-Day IL with a significant UCL injury in his right elbow - he will not pitch again this season

• RHP Huascar Brazobán recalled from Syracuse

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Playoff Race 🏁

The Phillies beat the Nationals on Saturday, but the Reds lost to the Diamondbacks, giving the Mets even more breathing room in the Wild Card standings. New York now holds a 2.5-game lead over Cincinnati for the final spot.

Per FanGraphs, the Mets have an 89.6% chance of making the 2025 playoffs, up from 85.3% on Saturday.

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Stats of the Day 📊

• Starling Marte is the first player with a homer, outfield assist, and two SB in a game since Luis Robert on 8/5/23; he’s the second-oldest player to do it in at least 50 years, younger than only Tony Gwynn (via Sarah Langs)

• Marte is the active leader in both stolen bases (361) and outfield assists (107)

• Jeff McNeil’s home run in the third inning was the 900th hit of his career

• Juan Soto stole his 21st base on Saturday - he is nine short of reaching the 30/30 mark for the first time in his career

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Who’s Hot? 🥵

• Jeff McNeil is slashing .407/.429/.852 with three homers and nine RBI in his last seven games

• Mark Vientos has a six-game hitting streak, during which he is hitting .375/.407/.958 with two doubles, four home runs, and nine RBI with nine hits and five runs scored

• Francisco Lindor has an 11-game hitting streak, during which he is hitting .489/.547/.851 with five doubles, four home runs, and eight RBI with 23 hits and 13 runs scored

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Play of the Game ⭐️

Primarily a DH this season, Starling Marte put in work yesterday with both his bat and his glove.

Holding onto a 3-0 lead, Clay Holmes and the Mets found themselves in an early jam in the bottom of the third, with runners at the corners and one out. With a chance to close the gap, Braves’ left fielder Jurickson Profar strode to the plate.

Profar, who has been excellent with RISP this year and is slashing .321/.441/.786 with four homers in his last seven games, lined an 0-1 cutter from Holmes straight into the glove of Marte, who was making just his sixth start in the outfield this season. Marte then fired a perfect strike home to C Hayden Senger to nail Braves’ 3B Nacho Alvarez Jr. as he slid headfirst into home.

It was Marte’s 107th outfield assist. He’s the only active player with over 100 — the next closest is Pirates CF Andrew McCutchen, with 79.

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Down on the Farm 🌾

• RHP Jonah Tong (No. 4 prospect, Triple-A): 6.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 8 K

• 3B Jacob Reimer (No. 6 prospect, Double-A): 2-for-3, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 BB, 1 K

• RHP Will Watson (No. 11 prospect, High-A): 6.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 5 K

BOX SCORES

Single-A STL | High-A BRK | Double-A BNG | Triple-A SYR

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Today’s Game 🗓️

Match-up: Mets (69-60) at Braves (58-71)

Where: Truist Park - Atlanta, GA

Starters: LHP David Peterson (8-5, 3.18 ERA) vs. RHP Bryce Elder (5-9, 6.29 ERA)

When: 1:35 PM EDT

Where to Watch: SNY

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Starling Marte remains the Mets’ not-so-secret weapon… ✍️

Imagn Images

Back in December on my other blog, amid a flurry of sudden trade speculation in response to the signing of Juan Soto, I wrote in strong defense of Starling Marte’s place on the Mets’ roster in 2025. I spoke passionately to his current utility, his value on and off the field, and his clutch gene, arguing that his new role as a full-time DH was a perfect fit for the skill set he still has to offer.

Here’s exactly what I had to say:

“Keeping Marte in action for the same 90-100 games he played in last season would…keep him healthy and would also more than likely generate even more favorable matchups for him at the plate.

…He [also] remains an excellent pinch-hit and pinch-run option. Despite the nagging bone bruise in his knee that plagued him all season long, Marte still stole 16 bases in 2024, including the 350th of his career. And outside of on-the-field value, on an emotional level, he’s a vital part of the clubhouse culture that helped fan the flames of last season’s successes.

Best case? He plays out his contract as a healthy, productive member of a World Series contender. Worst case? He ends up getting traded at the deadline after a lovely, memorable New York Mets tenure.”

Well, not to pat myself on the back too aggressively, but…

Yesterday, Marte turned in his best performance of the season. He did a little bit of everything: he homered, he walked, he stole bases, and he had a highlight moment in the outfield in just his sixth defensive start of the year.

But just as with Nolan McLean, we really shouldn’t be surprised by this.

All season, but especially in the second half, Marte has delivered exactly what we’ve come to expect from him across his Mets tenure. Given his age and injury history, it wasn’t unreasonable that skeptics were suspicious about his ability to provide equivalent value in a reduced (and outright different) role heading into camp. Still, I remained confident that he was still plenty capable of providing regular value to a winning team with the right balance of playing time and lineup role.

Let’s take a look at where Marte’s season stood at this same time last year vs. where he stands today:

• Marte thru 8/23/24: 70 GP, 280 PA, .279/.327/.415, 7 HR, 10 2B, 2 3B, 30 RBI, 38 RS, 13 SB, 63 K-17 BB (16.4% K-BB%), 111 wRC+, .324 wOBA, .344 BABIP, .136 ISO

• Marte in 2025: 75 GP, 250 PA, .289/.361/.454, 8 HR, 12 2B, 0 3B, 26 RBI, 27 RS, 7 SB, 45 K-19 BB (10.4% K-BB%), 123 wRC+, .342 wOBA, .325 BABIP, .153 ISO

At first glance, it appears he’s better than he was last year.

The surface stats above, of course, only tell so much of the story, so let’s dig a little deeper. In my aforementioned piece from this winter, I hit on a few key performance points from 2024, specifically Marte’s favorable platoon splits, his improved quality of contact, and his exceptional performance in clutch/high leverage situations. Upon re-examining all this data in 2025, it appears that Marte has shown some (unsurprising) regression back to the mean.

Yet, the production remains — why?

Narrowing in on how Marte’s performed with runners in scoring position this year, I noticed an interesting trend. Compare his RISP production in 2024 to 2025’s numbers and tell me what you see:

• 2024: 92 PA, .316/.378/.468, 1 HR, 3 2B, 3 3B, 31 RBI, 21 K–8 BB, 4 GIDP, .407 BABIP, .360 wOBA, 135 wRC+

• 2025: 61 PA, .233/.383/.256, 0 HR, 1 2B, 0 3B, 17 RBI, 6 K–9 BB, 2 GIDP, .244 BABIP, .306 wOBA, 98 wRC+

Immediately, I notice an uptick in walks alongside a plummeting slash line. Marte is generating next to zero power with runners in position, but it also appears he’s being more selective at the plate in scoring situations — his reduced whiff rate (24.8% vs. 28.4% in 2024) and K rate (18.3% vs. 21.9% in 2024) this year suggest the same. Neither a lack of power nor excessive patience is great for immediate run production, so to see Marte’s only driven in four fewer runs than he had at this same point last year, despite significantly worse RISP production, is fascinating to me.

Also of note: despite dips in his LA Sweet-Spot % (30.3% in 2025 vs. 37.1% in 2024), hard-hit rate (40.6% in 2025, 42.9% in 2024), and BABIP, Marte is barreling up the ball more frequently in his plate appearances this year while maintaining last year’s bat speed and square-up rate, which has helped him maintain similar extra-base production to his 2024 rate despite a drop in average exit velocity:

Marte’s 2024 vs. 2025 hit spray charts. (Baseball Savant)

So, where is Marte finding his success this season? The answer lies primarily in improved batted ball results.

Though he’s hitting nearly 50% of his batted balls on the ground, Marte is still hitting fewer ground balls than last year, and he’s faring far better on them in 2025 (.256) than he did in 2024 (.167) on harder contact. Additionally, though he’s pulling balls less frequently than he did last year, he’s doing more with them, slashing .417/.417/.750 with a 229 wRC+ on pull-side contact.

Marte is also putting far more balls in the air this year than last, and they’re productive:

• 2024 Fly Ball Data: 22.8% FB%, .321/.316/.821, 7 HR, 7 2B, 14 RBI

• 2025 Fly Ball Data: 32.7% FB%, .333/.321/.889, 8 HR, 6 2B, 13 RBI

So, while I wouldn’t go so far as to say Marte is blowing all of my offseason expectations out of the water, he’s certainly meeting them. Sliding effortlessly into a full-time bench role, Marte has stepped up (mostly) whenever his name’s been called.

No, the RISP production isn’t what it was last year — you could say that about the entire team this season. But Marte has figured out how to adjust his play style to meet the current needs of the roster and his new role. Yes, his steals are down and he’s yet to hit a triple, but what he’s sacrificed in speed he’s clearly been making up for in improved plate discipline and refined bat-to-ball skills.

This season, Marte is hitting .317/.400/.515 with 4 homers, 15 RBI, and 5 steals over 120 PA in games the Mets have won; he’s hitting .265/.326/.402 with 4 homers, 11 RBI, and 2 steals over 130 PA in games they’ve lost. He’s produced 1.3 bWAR (0.7 fWAR) this season compared to 0.7 bWAR (0.6 fWAR) in 2024.

In year four of his four-year deal, on a $20 million salary at age 36, Starling Marte still brings value to this team. I’ve never been happier to be right about something.

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Around the League 🚩

• Boston’s Garrett Crochet surpassed the 200 strikeout mark in his dominant performance against the Yankees on Saturday, notching 11 Ks while allowing just one run in seven innings in the 12-1 rout

• Phillies RHP Zack Wheeler will have thoracic outlet surgery and will miss the remainder of the season.

• Astros 1B Christian Walker hit his third home run in as many games to help Houston beat the Orioles, 9-8