The New York Mets announced they have signed All-Star outfielder Starling Marte to a four-year contract.
Marte, 33, led the major leagues with a career-high-tying 47 stolen bases, succeeding at a 90.4 percent rate, and paced MLB in Fangraphs’ baserunning runs above average metric (12.3) last season. He is one of just 10 players since 1980 to steal as many as 47 bases in one season with a success rate of 90 percent or higher.
“Starling is a premier talent at a premier position,” Mets General Manager Billy Eppler said. “His play in the outfield makes the team stronger at run prevention up the middle and his elite base-running skills are a perfect blend. He has a winning attitude and will be a huge asset as well in our clubhouse.”
A native of the Dominican Republic, Marte began the 2021 season with Miami before being traded to Oakland on July 28. This past season, he posted career-best marks in on-base percentage (.383) and walks (43). He ranked sixth in the majors in batting average (.310) and seventh in on-base percentage. Despite spending half of the year in each league, he still ranked in the top-10 in both the AL and NL in steals, making him the first player in major league history to accomplish that feat, according to Elias.
The 10-year major league veteran was named an All-Star in 2016 and won Gold Glove Awards for his play in left field in 2015 and 2016. He is the only player in the majors with at least 20 stolen bases in every full season since 2013 and ranks second in MLB with 284 steals over the last nine years. Only Billy Hamilton (314) has more steals in that span.
According to Fangraphs, he ranks fourth among major league center fielders since 2018 in WAR (13.4), behind only Mike Trout (22.8), Ronald Acuña (15.8) and George Springer (13.6).
Marte owns a career slashline of .289/.346/.451 with 126 home runs, 502 RBI, 233 doubles, 46 triples, 680 runs scored, 296 stolen bases in 1,134 games with Pittsburgh (2012-2019), Arizona (2020), Miami (2020-2021) and Oakland (2021).
