Marte singing new tune
Hopes to repay team’s confidence, trust this season
BRADENTON, Fla. — On July 18, 2017, it reached 88 degrees in Pittsburgh. But the hot days of July marked the beginning of a cold front for Starling Marte, who returned to the PNC Park outfield that Tuesday night after serving an80-game drug suspension.
From that first game back — in which he singled, was picked off, walked and scored a run — through Sept. 12, Marte batted .249, with a .314 on-base percentage and a middling.654 OPS.
He started to heat up in late September, even though he was sidelined at times by shoulder and finger injuries. He ended the season with a 12game hitting streak, a stretch in which he hit .435, batted in eight runs and stole seven bases.
Thursday, when Marte reported to Pirate City for spring training, he pledged to be more like his late-September self.
Midseason, the pitchers “were already warmed up,” Marte said through translator Mike Gonzalez. “They were ready to face me. … They had been playing throughout the whole season. I came in just kind of cold, and it took me a little bit to be able to adjust. However, when I started getting warmed up, and I got into my rhythm, that’s when Marte came out, the true Marte. I’m looking forward. I feel warm, and I’m looking forward to going into this 2018 season.”
Marte said he will greatly miss Andrew McCutchen, while also expressing excitement for the new opportunity his former teammate will have in San Francisco — and the renewed opportunity Marte will get in center field.
“This organization has always shown me much respect,” Marte said. “They’ve always trusted me and what I can offer. They’ve recognized what I can offer and bring to the table as a center fielder. They know that I am a center fielder and I can play the position well.”
Marte played winter ball in the Dominican Republic with the Leones del Escogido, wherehe got off to a slow start, found his rhythm and eventually was pulled, due to a cut in his hand. The hand injury occasionally bothers him but doesn’t worry him, he said.
“The two weeks that he spent in center field, and the situation that was ongoing that none of us were aware of, this kid is ready to come back and do something in center field that he believes he can do,” manager Clint Hurdle said. “He’s ready to play the game offensively the way he believes he can play it. Last year was a hard year.”
Of course, it was a positive drug test, not injury, that kept himoff the field for half of 2017, and Marte says he has adjusted his supplements regimen in order to avoid that issue again — whatever the cause of the Nandrolone in his system. Marte worked with the Pirates’ Dominican academy to get the same supplements he takes during the MLB season.
“It’s just becoming more knowledgeable, more knowledgeable with what I’m allowing to enter my body,” Marte said. “Also asking more questions and just learning more about the products and the supplements and what’s a better diet for myself.
“But I think the biggest thing is not just offer my trust to just anyone. To be honest with you, I’ve reached a point, I just kind of trust nobody. You’ve got to really earn that from me to put something in my body. … So I’ve grown a lot, I’ve learned a huge lesson, and just definitely becoming a lot more aware and more conscious.”