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MLB trends Starling Marte bringing speed

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  March 3, 2023

  The All-Star break and the trade deadline are in the rearview mirror and the we've hit the dog days of summer. We're in crunch time now. The postseason races are really starting to heat up. Our weekly series examining various trends acro s the league continues with a look at three West Coast hitters who are poised to have an impact down the stretch. . NYM CF #6 As is often the case, the were among the busiest teams at the trade Justin Turner Jersey deadline. They're very much in the postseason race again (only the have been to the postseason more times than the A's since 2012) and the front office did what it could to fortify the roster while staying within ownership's budget mandate. Oakland's deadline moves: LHP from the for two prospects. C and UTIL from the for three prospects. OF from the for LHP . All three trades have been impactful thus far but the Marte for Luzardo deal is the headliner. Not long ago Luzardo was among the top pitching prospects in baseball, but the A's seemingly soured on him this season, and gave him up to rent Marte for two months (and to get Miami to pay Marte's salary). Trading Luzardo for a rental -- any rental -- 12 months ago would've been unthinkable. In two weeks with the Athletics, however, Marte has been everything the team needed and then some. He's gone 18 for 45 (.400) with two home runs in 10 games with Oakland, including a walk-off home run over the weekend. He is 16 for 33 (.485) in August. Marte has also brought a speed element the A's typically lack. Case in point: Oakland Joc Pederson Jersey ranked dead last in stolen bases (217) and 24th in baserunning ( ) from 2016-20. Marte is a dynamic all-around player and he stole 22 bases in 25 attempts with the Marlins, and he ranked among the league leaders in overall baserunning. In 10 games with the Athletics, Marte has already stolen eight bases (in eight attempts) and accrued 1.5 runs of value on the bases. He's spent only two weeks in the American League and he's already 28th in the league in steals. Last week Marte became the first A's player to steal three bases in a game since Rickey Henderson (OK fine, since in 2017)."We haven't seen anything like Marte," A's manager Bob Melvin told reporters, , following Marte's three-steal game. "His athleticism and his stolen-base ability." , and while Marte was never truly a luxury, he is e sential now. Like every player, he will provide more at the plate and in the field than he does on the bases, but the baserunning is important too. Oakland now has a speed threat, and it's an element they've rarely featured over the years. "Just all of the above, whether it's big hits, understanding going the other way, knowing when to steal, just creates all kinds of havoc on the bases for opposing managers, catchers, pitchers," Melvin recently told reporters, . "Just allows the hitters to get some better pitches too, and likely more fastballs. There's a lot of stuff to like about him." MIL 2B #31 Aside from Marte, the best position player pickup at the trade deadline thus far has been , who went from the to the in the unpopular trade. Unpopular in Seattle's own clubhouse, that is. "It never changes. They don't care about winning. How do you trade him and say you care about winning?" . Toro is making the front office look smart, however. Graveman is certainly mi sed in the bullpen -- Seattle is 3-7 since the deadline and they blew a lead in the sixth inning or later in five of the seven lo ses -- though Toro is doing his part at the plate. The 24-year-old switch-hitter is 17 for 48 (.354) with three home runs in 13 games with the Mariners. Beyond the surface stats, two things really stand out about Toro's time with the Mariners. First, he's not striking out. Only five strikeouts in 55 plate appearances, or a 9.1 percent rate that is well below the 23.5 percent league average. Toro has swung and mi sed only 5.4 percent of the time as well. That's le s than half the 11.3 percent league average. The man is getting the bat on the ball Babe Herman Jersey a ton. Toro has never been a high strikeout hitter. He struck out in 17.4 percent of his career plate appearances in Double-A and Triple-A, and in 20.5 percent of his plate appearances with the Astros. That's a good, solid number, especially for a young player. With Seattle, Toro has taken the contact up a notch. It's a small sample, sure, but five strikeouts in only 55 plate appearances is impre sive no matter what. That's an extreme contact rate in this era. And second, Toro is playing second base with the Mariners, a position he played exactly once in 93 games with Houston and only a handful of times in the minors. It's e sentially a new position for the natural third baseman, and 12 games into the experiment, Toro seems to be handling it well. At the very least, he hasn't given the Mariners a reason to believe he do it. "He centers the ball really well," Mariners infield coach Perry Hill recently told reporters, . "His footwork is crisp. But he hasn't played there in a long time. When you play on the left side of the infield, the ball is coming at you and everything is going Chase Utley Jersey one way. But when you are on other side of the infield it's different. The angles are different. When you are turning double plays, you are going one way and having to throw back the other way. He's got to learn how to manipulate and turn his body. That's going to take a little bit of time." Seattle acquired Toro for his bat, first and foremost. He's a switch-hitter who gets the bat on the ball and those guys are hard to find. No, Toro won't continue to hit at a .358 clip because basically no one does that, but there are indications he can be an above-average hitter with contact and power. And if he becomes that, Toro won't have to do much defensively to be worth a lineup spot. Anything he gives them at second base is gravy. Trading Graveman in the middle of a postseason race was a tough pill to swallow for the players in the clubhouse, I get that, but GM Jerry Dipoto effectively replaced Graveman with , and Toro has quickly made an impact for Seattle. He's settling in at a new position and providing a lift offensively. The Mariners are fading in the standings and Graveman is mi sed by his former teammates, but they are a better team overall with Toro. LAA RF #7 Last year was a year to forgot for many, many reasons. For outfielder , his dream came true -- he was called up to the big leagues for the first time! -- yet it went about as poorly as po sible. Adell hit .161/.212/.266 in over 100 plate appearances and generally looked lost on both sides of the ball. He looked nothing like a touted elite prospect. Most alarmingly, Adell struck out 55 times in 124 plate appearances (41.7 percent), with an astronomical 19.9 percent swinging strike rate. We saw way too much of this last year. Too many mi ses on hittable pitches in the strike zone: Adell always struck out Corey Seager Jersey a good deal in the minors (career 26.3 pe

  The All-Star break and the trade deadline are in the rearview mirror and the we've hit the dog days of summer. We're in crunch time now. The postseason races are really starting to heat up. Our weekly series examining various trends acro s the league continues with a look at three West Coast hitters who are poised to have an impact down the stretch. . NYM CF #6 As is often the case, the were among the busiest teams at the trade Justin Turner Jersey deadline. They're very much in the postseason race again (only the have been to the postseason more times than the A's since 2012) and the front office did what it could to fortify the roster while staying within ownership's budget mandate. Oakland's deadline moves: LHP from the for two prospects. C and UTIL from the for three prospects. OF from the for LHP . All three trades have been impactful thus far but the Marte for Luzardo deal is the headliner. Not long ago Luzardo was among the top pitching prospects in baseball, but the A's seemingly soured on him this season, and gave him up to rent Marte for two months (and to get Miami to pay Marte's salary). Trading Luzardo for a rental -- any rental -- 12 months ago would've been unthinkable. In two weeks with the Athletics, however, Marte has been everything the team needed and then some. He's gone 18 for 45 (.400) with two home runs in 10 games with Oakland, including a walk-off home run over the weekend. He is 16 for 33 (.485) in August. Marte has also brought a speed element the A's typically lack. Case in point: Oakland Joc Pederson Jersey ranked dead last in stolen bases (217) and 24th in baserunning ( ) from 2016-20. Marte is a dynamic all-around player and he stole 22 bases in 25 attempts with the Marlins, and he ranked among the league leaders in overall baserunning. In 10 games with the Athletics, Marte has already stolen eight bases (in eight attempts) and accrued 1.5 runs of value on the bases. He's spent only two weeks in the American League and he's already 28th in the league in steals. Last week Marte became the first A's player to steal three bases in a game since Rickey Henderson (OK fine, since in 2017)."We haven't seen anything like Marte," A's manager Bob Melvin told reporters, , following Marte's three-steal game. "His athleticism and his stolen-base ability." , and while Marte was never truly a luxury, he is e sential now. Like every player, he will provide more at the plate and in the field than he does on the bases, but the baserunning is important too. Oakland now has a speed threat, and it's an element they've rarely featured over the years. "Just all of the above, whether it's big hits, understanding going the other way, knowing when to steal, just creates all kinds of havoc on the bases for opposing managers, catchers, pitchers," Melvin recently told reporters, . "Just allows the hitters to get some better pitches too, and likely more fastballs. There's a lot of stuff to like about him." MIL 2B #31 Aside from Marte, the best position player pickup at the trade deadline thus far has been , who went from the to the in the unpopular trade. Unpopular in Seattle's own clubhouse, that is. "It never changes. They don't care about winning. How do you trade him and say you care about winning?" . Toro is making the front office look smart, however. Graveman is certainly mi sed in the bullpen -- Seattle is 3-7 since the deadline and they blew a lead in the sixth inning or later in five of the seven lo ses -- though Toro is doing his part at the plate. The 24-year-old switch-hitter is 17 for 48 (.354) with three home runs in 13 games with the Mariners. Beyond the surface stats, two things really stand out about Toro's time with the Mariners. First, he's not striking out. Only five strikeouts in 55 plate appearances, or a 9.1 percent rate that is well below the 23.5 percent league average. Toro has swung and mi sed only 5.4 percent of the time as well. That's le s than half the 11.3 percent league average. The man is getting the bat on the ball Babe Herman Jersey a ton. Toro has never been a high strikeout hitter. He struck out in 17.4 percent of his career plate appearances in Double-A and Triple-A, and in 20.5 percent of his plate appearances with the Astros. That's a good, solid number, especially for a young player. With Seattle, Toro has taken the contact up a notch. It's a small sample, sure, but five strikeouts in only 55 plate appearances is impre sive no matter what. That's an extreme contact rate in this era. And second, Toro is playing second base with the Mariners, a position he played exactly once in 93 games with Houston and only a handful of times in the minors. It's e sentially a new position for the natural third baseman, and 12 games into the experiment, Toro seems to be handling it well. At the very least, he hasn't given the Mariners a reason to believe he do it. "He centers the ball really well," Mariners infield coach Perry Hill recently told reporters, . "His footwork is crisp. But he hasn't played there in a long time. When you play on the left side of the infield, the ball is coming at you and everything is going Chase Utley Jersey one way. But when you are on other side of the infield it's different. The angles are different. When you are turning double plays, you are going one way and having to throw back the other way. He's got to learn how to manipulate and turn his body. That's going to take a little bit of time." Seattle acquired Toro for his bat, first and foremost. He's a switch-hitter who gets the bat on the ball and those guys are hard to find. No, Toro won't continue to hit at a .358 clip because basically no one does that, but there are indications he can be an above-average hitter with contact and power. And if he becomes that, Toro won't have to do much defensively to be worth a lineup spot. Anything he gives them at second base is gravy. Trading Graveman in the middle of a postseason race was a tough pill to swallow for the players in the clubhouse, I get that, but GM Jerry Dipoto effectively replaced Graveman with , and Toro has quickly made an impact for Seattle. He's settling in at a new position and providing a lift offensively. The Mariners are fading in the standings and Graveman is mi sed by his former teammates, but they are a better team overall with Toro. LAA RF #7 Last year was a year to forgot for many, many reasons. For outfielder , his dream came true -- he was called up to the big leagues for the first time! -- yet it went about as poorly as po sible. Adell hit .161/.212/.266 in over 100 plate appearances and generally looked lost on both sides of the ball. He looked nothing like a touted elite prospect. Most alarmingly, Adell struck out 55 times in 124 plate appearances (41.7 percent), with an astronomical 19.9 percent swinging strike rate. We saw way too much of this last year. Too many mi ses on hittable pitches in the strike zone: Adell always struck out Corey Seager Jersey a good deal in the minors (career 26.3 pe