Ketel Marte was the most effective 10 hitters in baseball in 2024. That’s simply an goal truth – or no less than as goal as information can get in baseball. Our calculation of WAR? He was tenth amongst hitters. Baseball Reference has him tenth as properly. Baseball Prospectus put him in seventh place. That’s not shocking; he set profession highs in house runs, league-adjusted OBP and slugging, and wRC+. He performed stable protection and even added a bit worth on the basepaths.
He was the most effective 10 hitters in baseball in 2019, too. In reality, he’s the one participant to crack the highest 10 in each 2019 and 2024. That’s wild. Aaron Choose, Mookie Betts, Shohei Ohtani, Corey Seager, Juan Soto, Bryce Harper, José Ramírez – all of them performed in each years. None of them – none! – managed the double that Marte did. This isn’t some bizarre defensive worth concern, both: He’s the one hitter with a top-10 wRC+ in each years.
These in between years? Don’t look too carefully. Marte totaled 9.1 WAR throughout the 2020-2023 campaigns. He posted 6.3 WAR in every of 2019 and 2024. In that 2020-2023 span, he was sixty fourth amongst hitters in whole WAR. He had two seasons of roughly common offensive manufacturing in that span, and produced at a 3 WAR/600 tempo as a substitute of the 6.3 WAR/600 tempo from 2019 and 2024. So it’s secure to say he’s streaky – one hitter some years, and a unique man different years.
I feel that’s too simplistic, although. Right here’s one other factor you might say about Marte: He’s two completely different hitters each single recreation. As a righty, he’s a fearsome slugger. And batting lefty, properly, he’s not fairly that.
Listed below are some price statistics for right-handed hitters going through left-handed pitchers from 2019 via 2024:
Finest Righty Hitters vs. Lefty Pitchers, 2019-24
| Hitter | PA | BB% | Ok% | HR/PA | AVG | OBP | SLG | wRC+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aaron Choose | 763 | 17.7% | 26.0% | 8.4% | .298 | .427 | .650 | 190 |
| Paul Goldschmidt | 776 | 13.3% | 19.8% | 5.2% | .320 | .412 | .577 | 168 |
| William Contreras | 501 | 12.8% | 22.8% | 4.2% | .327 | .414 | .559 | 165 |
| Ketel Marte | 903 | 6.5% | 13.2% | 5.3% | .334 | .388 | .602 | 162 |
| Yandy Díaz | 802 | 11.8% | 13.2% | 3.7% | .317 | .397 | .524 | 158 |
| Jose Altuve | 849 | 8.8% | 14.5% | 4.2% | .311 | .379 | .538 | 154 |
| J.D. Martinez | 870 | 11.3% | 23.3% | 5.7% | .301 | .381 | .583 | 153 |
| Randy Arozarena | 708 | 11.3% | 23.7% | 4.9% | .282 | .374 | .520 | 152 |
| Rhys Hoskins | 698 | 16.5% | 21.9% | 5.6% | .262 | .394 | .548 | 151 |
| Teoscar Hernández | 777 | 7.5% | 27.8% | 6.6% | .294 | .347 | .588 | 151 |
After all Choose tops this listing; he’s the perfect hitter in baseball. However after that, Marte may be the preeminent right-vs.-left hitter in all of baseball. He has the perfect slugging share in opposition to lefties this aspect of Choose, and he hits house runs like a slugger and strikes out like a contact king. He has a .334 batting common regardless of a BABIP that’s hardly outrageous – .345, for the file. Contact high quality metrics again it up.
In different phrases, Marte is an outright celebrity as a righty hitter. Final 12 months was an amazing encapsulation of this. Marte hit .342/.401/.679 in opposition to lefties and launched homers in 8.5% of his plate appearances. That’s gaudy stuff, and it undoubtedly powered his nice season.
The flip aspect? The flip aspect’s not unhealthy, but it surely’s definitely not elite in the identical approach. From 2019-2024, Marte is 51st amongst lefty hitters in opposition to righty pitchers, with a 118 wRC+. He has league-average energy and takes some walks, however strikes out extra incessantly than he does whereas batting righty regardless of hitting the ball with much less authority. The righty-hitting Marte is a celebrity. The lefty model is a lifeless ringer for Jorge Polanco. That’s unusual, to say the least.
Ah, however there’s a cause for it. We consider swap hitters as roughly equal from either side of the plate, maybe with the quantity turned up a bit on one aspect or the opposite. José Ramírez cranks dingers and spits on unhealthy pitches regardless of which aspect he’s batting from. Ozzie Smith laced line drives the opposite approach, whichever approach “different” meant on that individual plate look. Standard knowledge would counsel that as a result of Marte’s a masher righty, he must also be a masher lefty.
Now that Statcast is measuring swing velocity, although, we are able to truly check that concept. And Marte isn’t swinging the identical on either side, to place it mildly. Listed below are the swing speeds, by handedness, for the ten swap hitters who batted most incessantly in 2024:
Change Hitter Swing Velocity Differential, 2024
| Hitter | RHH Swing Velocity | RHH Quick Swing% | LHH Swing Velocity | LHH Quick Swing% | Swing Velocity Diff | Quick Swing% Diff |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| José Ramírez | 74.3 mph | 40.5% | 70.6 mph | 11.5% | 3.7 mph | 29.0% |
| Francisco Lindor | 72.8 mph | 27.0% | 72.3 mph | 22.6% | 0.5 mph | 4.4% |
| Jurickson Profar | 73.1 mph | 32.8% | 71.2 mph | 19.3% | 1.9 mph | 13.5% |
| Willi Castro | 71.9 mph | 24.8% | 70.2 mph | 12.2% | 1.7 mph | 12.6% |
| Josh Bell | 69.4 mph | 6.9% | 70.9 mph | 18.4% | -1.5 mph | -11.5% |
| Ketel Marte | 77.2 mph | 72.7% | 71.5 mph | 21.0% | 5.7 mph | 51.7% |
| Jonah Heim | 71.1 mph | 12.9% | 70.0 mph | 8.7% | 1.1 mph | 4.2% |
| Jeimer Candelario | 69.1 mph | 6.1% | 68.1 mph | 4.5% | 1.0 mph | 1.6% |
| Jorge Polanco | 68.8 mph | 6.4% | 70.2 mph | 8.6% | -1.4 mph | -2.2% |
| Ozzie Albies | 69.4 mph | 10.0% | 68.9 mph | 6.5% | 0.5 mph | 3.5% |
In plain English, Marte is producing further energy batting right-handed as a result of he swings rather a lot more durable. And that’s underselling it. From the correct aspect, Marte turns into Choose and Giancarlo Stanton. Inconceivable! You may say that phrase, however on this case, I don’t suppose it means what you suppose it means, as a result of Marte’s righty swing is definitely one of many quickest in baseball, tied for second within the league with Choose. That quick swing price? It’s outrageous. Solely Choose and Stanton acquired the bat head above 75 mph extra incessantly. Positive, each swap hitter has a dominant aspect, however that is one thing else totally.
Is that this an argument for Marte abandoning swap hitting? Most undoubtedly not. He’s a plus hitter as a lefty, and it could be loopy to danger that wonderful efficiency within the hopes that he can be taught to hit right-on-right within the majors at age 31. It’s additionally undoubtedly not an argument for him to be platooned; groups pay good cash for lefties who can put up a 118 wRC+ in opposition to righty pitching. Marte does that along with laying waste to lefty pitching. He’s a self-contained platoon, a righty slugger or lefty contact hitter relying on who’s on the mound that day.
As an alternative, that is an argument that you must respect Marte greater than you do. Except you’re a Diamondbacks fan, you most likely consider him as a generically good, do-everything hitter. That’s an correct description of his general batting line, however his general batting line isn’t a great description of him. Nobody appears at Choose and Anthony Volpe collectively and says, “Within the combination, these two spots within the Yankees lineup present common energy based mostly on common swing velocity.” We solely do it with Marte as a result of it’s conference with swap hitters, however he’s far outdoors the conventional bands of how swap hitters work.
The common fan won’t understand all of this, however opposing groups completely do. Marte will get attacked as if he had been at all times a righty; when opposing managers select relievers to face him, they make an effort to show him round to bat lefty. That’s as a result of they’re getting scouting studies that principally say, “If he beats you righty, you don’t have any one in charge however your self.” I feel that’s fairly dang cool – and once I watch Marte, I’ve a renewed appreciation for a way not each hitter might be outlined by their customary statlines.