Mets shutting OF Starling Marte down for remainder of season
Despite his best efforts to get back on the field, Mets outfielder Starling Marte will not play again this season, per manager Buck Showalter.
Showalter told reporters ahead of Wednesday's doubleheader with the Marlins that the team ultimately came to the decision to shut down the outfielder, in part because of the minor league seasons coming to an end.
"He’s not gonna play this year. We’ve arrived at the decision that he’s not going to get into games," Showalter said. "We’ve run out of minor league games. He’s been sick, but now he’s over that. The risk/reward is just not there, diminishing return. He was built up to about five innings and there was no way to get him past that.
“He’s shown really good groin and core strength, sprint speed, his hitting metrics were back to his baseline. I feel comfortable we’re going to have a healthy player going forward. He’s just not fully built up to get into games next week and take the risk. And he wants to play, he wants to get back out there, but just wasn’t there."
Marte has been on the Injured List since Aug. 7 due to a groin injury that dates back to last season. Marte had double groin surgery in the offseason, but never was able to fully get back to speed.
Showalter explained that he believes Marte will be able to avoid an additional surgery, with that hope that the outfielder can "start fresh" next season.
"I’d like to say yes," Showalter said, before hedging a bit. "He’s doing everything that he wasn’t doing and recovering … I think we’re in a good place."
Even when Marte was on the field this season, it was clear that he wasn't able to run at full speed when on the bases or in the outfield, and it didn't seem like he could generate the same power from his lower half when batting.
After slashing .292/.347/.468 with 16 homers, 63 RBI in 2022, he dropped down to .248/.301/.324 with five homers and 28 RBI in 86 games.
"If we go back through it, we try to get ahead of a lot of it. I think now knowing what we were working against, it wasn’t like he was hurting anything more, it was just what he could tolerate and play through," Showalter said. "He went through some periods where we thought he was ready to get it going, but there are a lot of sidebars to that story that I won’t get into. We’re in a good place moving forward now."
Showalter added: “He wants to get out there. He loves to play. This is a guy who went to the All-Star Game last year, he hit second in our lineup, and we really haven’t had him, not the guy, all year.”
So with six games remaining on the Mets' 2023 schedule, Marte's season had officially come to an end. But Showalter believes the outfielder will come back next season fully ready to return to form.
"I would not bet against him next year," Showalter said. "I’ll leave him at that."
