Starling Marte

Starling Marte

Marte with the Pittsburgh Pirates
Pittsburgh Pirates – No. 6
Left fielder
Born: (1988-10-09) October 9, 1988
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Bats: Right Throws: Right
MLB debut
July 26, 2012, for the Pittsburgh Pirates
MLB statistics
(through 2016 season)
Batting average .289
Hits 648
Home runs 58
Runs batted in 235
Stolen bases 160
Teams
Career highlights and awards

Starling Javier Marte (born October 9, 1988) is a Dominican professional baseball left fielder for the Pittsburgh Pirates of Major League Baseball (MLB). He made his MLB debut in 2012.

Early life

Marte grew up on the outskirts of Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic.[1] When his mother died, he was nine, his grandmother took care of him.[2]

Career

Minor leagues (2007–2012)

He signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2007, and was primarily a center fielder during his time in the minors.[1] In 2010, Marte played for the Pirates' Class A affiliate, the Bradenton Marauders, where he played in 60 games, ending with a batting average of .315. He hit 16 doubles and five triples that season while also stealing 22 bases.[3] Marte represented the Pittsburgh Pirates at the 2011 All-Star Futures Game.[4] In 2011, while playing for the Altoona Curve, Marte was an Eastern League Mid-Season All-Star [5] and Post-Season All-Star, a Baseball America Double-A All-Star,[6] a Topps Double-A All-Star,[7] and a Milb.com organization All-Star.[8] On August 15, 2011, Marte was named the EL's player of the week.[9] Marte also won the Eastern League Batting Title with a .332 batting average [10] and was named the Eastern League Rookie of the Year.[11] Marte was added to the Pirates 40 man roster on November 18, 2011.[12] Marte was a respected prospect and was ranked number 73 on Baseball America's Top 100 Prospects list in February 2012 [13] and number 56 on Baseball Prospectus's Top 101 Prospect list in February 2012.[14] In 2012, while playing for the Indianapolis Indians, Marte was named an International League Mid-Season All-Star.[15] On July 2, 2012, Marte was named the International League player of the week.[16]

Major leagues (2012–present)

On July 26, 2012, Marte was promoted from the Triple A Indianapolis Indians to the Pittsburgh Pirates,[17] becoming the first graduate of the Pirates' Latin American complex, located in the Dominican Republic, to reach the major leagues.[1] He hit a home run on the first pitch he faced in his major league career, off Houston Astros pitcher Dallas Keuchel.[18] The hit made Marte the third player in Pirates' franchise history to homer in his first at-bat and the first to do it since Don Leppert in 1961. He also became the first Pirate to homer on the first pitch of his major league career since Walter Mueller did so in 1922.[19]

Marte and the Pirates finalized a 6-year, $31 million deal on March 28, 2014.[20][21] On August 18, 2014, Marte had his second career multi-homer game in a 7–3 loss to the Atlanta Braves. He won his first career Rawlings Gold Glove Award in 2015.[22]

Scouting report

In November 2011, Larry Broadway, the Pirates' director of Minor League operations, said of Marte, "An exciting player to watch, Starling has very good athleticism and speed to go along with the ability to hit. The scary thing is that he is starting to mature physically and is starting to develop power as well. His speed-power-hit combo is going to make him a very fun player to see mature."[8]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Biertempfel, Rob (July 27, 2012). "Biertempfel: Marte is fruit of Pirates' labor". Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
  2. ↑ Biertempfel, Rob (July 26, 2012). "Marte homers, Pirates win in rookie's debut". Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
  3. ↑ "Marte Promoted to Pittsburgh". Bradenton Marauders. Minor League Baseball. July 26, 2012.
  4. ↑ Langosh, Jenifer (June 23, 2011). "Marte to play for World at Futures Game". Pittsburgh Pirates.
  5. ↑ Wild, Danny (June 29, 2011). "Cats' McDade among Eastern All-Stars".
  6. ↑ "2011 Classification All-Star Teams". Baseball America. September 16, 2011.
  7. ↑ Passanisi, Mike (November 16, 2011). "Marte Selected To Topps' Double-A All-Star Squad".
  8. 1 2 Marshall, Ashley (November 30, 2011). "Pirates Organization All-Stars".
  9. ↑ Parker, John (August 15, 2011). "Offensive Players of the Week".
  10. ↑ Vukovcan, Mike (September 5, 2011). "Marte Wins Eastern League Batting Title". KDKA CBS Pittsburgh.
  11. ↑ Rosario, Bill (September 4, 2011). "Starling Marte Wins Rookie of the Year". Minor League Baseball.
  12. ↑ "Pirates set 40-man roster". Pittsburgh Pirates. November 18, 2011.
  13. ↑ "2012 Top 100 Prospects". Baseball America. February 21, 2012.
  14. ↑ Goldstein, Kevin (February 13, 2012). "Future Shock: Top 101 Prospects". Baseball Prospectus.
  15. ↑ "International League All-Star Team" (PDF). International League. June 27, 2012.
  16. ↑ "Starling Marte & Pat Neshek Honored as International Players of the Week" (PDF). International League. July 2, 2012.
  17. ↑ Singer, Tom (July 25, 2012). "Top prospect Marte to join Bucs as Meek sent down". Pittsburgh Pirates.
  18. ↑ Singer, Tom (July 26, 2012). "Starling in the making: Rookie homers on first pitch". Pittsburgh Pirates.
  19. ↑ "Starling Marte homers on 1st major league pitch as Pirates upend Astros". ESPN. July 26, 2012.
  20. ↑ Singer, Tom (March 27, 2014). "Marte's six-year extension with Bucs official". MLB.com. Retrieved March 28, 2014.
  21. ↑ "Marte, Pirates finalize $31 million, 6-year deal". Associated Press. ESPN.com. March 28, 2014. Retrieved March 28, 2014.
  22. ↑ Miller, Doug (November 10, 2015). "Defensive standouts nab Gold Glove Awards". MLB.com. Retrieved November 10, 2015.
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