Mets outfielder Starling Marte likely to be activated off IL for Sunday's game
New York Mets first baseman Pete Alonso hits a solo home run against the Miami Marlins during the second inning of an MLB baseball game at Citi Field on Saturday, Aug. 17, 2024. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
It’s always good to have options, and Mets manager Carlos Mendoza is about to have another one in his outfield. Starling Marte was back at Citi Field on Saturday, arriving during the 4-0 win over Miami. He likely will be activated off the injured list for Sunday’s series finale.
“There’s a good chance he’ll be in the lineup [Sunday],” Mendoza said.
Marte, 35, hasn’t played since coming out of a June 22 game against the Cubs with a bone bruise in his right knee. He began a minor-league rehab assignment Aug. 7 and played full games in the outfield for Triple-A Syracuse on Thursday and Friday.
“Huge addition,’’ Mendoza said before first pitch. “He’s a big part of this team, and he’s feeling healthy and ready to go. Obviously, he’s a big addition for our lineup.”
Marte hit .278 with seven home runs and 30 RBIs in 66 games before the injury. He was 12-for-12 on stolen-base attempts. All of that offense helped offset spotty defense in rightfield. How well he runs remains to be seen, as he stole only one base during his rehab assignment.
How Marte fits with an outfield that already includes Brandon Nimmo, Jesse Winker, Harrison Bader and Tyrone Taylor isn’t clear. One feasible move would be swapping Marte for Bader with Nimmo moving to center, which would be trading some defense for some offense.
“At the end of the day, they are going to get their at-bats . . . They will be active and their names will be called,” Mendoza said. “Just because their name isn’t in a starting lineup, it doesn’t mean they won’t be a big part . . . of the game. And they’ll be ready to go.”
Mendoza suggested Marte’s return is coming at a critical moment with the Mets battling for a postseason berth and 10 games in 11 days against the Orioles, Padres and Diamondbacks beginning Monday.
“His bat, his speed — there’s a lot,” Mendoza said. “His presence in the lineup, the experience. Obviously, he’s been in this league for a long time and had a pretty good career — and we missed him. So the fact that we’re getting a healthy Marte here, especially where we are on the schedule, is going to be huge for our team.”
MLB players get creative
This is players weekend in MLB and offers the players a chance to express themselves with colorful or meaningful changes to their equipment. Bader was among the Mets who took advantage of it, striding to the plate with a baseball bat colored to look like a pink crayon.
Other Mets had bats that looked like crayons of other colors. Some had ones made up to look like No. 2 pencils.
A number of them used personalized spikes. Catcher Francisco Alvarez had a pair of orange ones with a quote from Yadier Molina on one of them.
Bader said he chose pink and purple crayons for a pair of bats because “those are my colors and they match my batting gloves.” He said that many of the bat manufacturers approached players with possible options. The colored lacquer the manufacturers used, he said, had no impact on the bat.
“Everything is the same,” Bader said. “It feels the same in my hands, the same with the ball off the bat.”
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.
