Mets leaning toward starting Starling Marte in right field on Opening Day

JUPITER, Fla. – All signs are pointing to Starling Marte being Michael Conforto’s successor in right field.

Days after Marte impressed in right field, a position he has yet to play in a real big-league game, the Mets put him right back there for a night game against the Marlins on Tuesday. Marte has spent 10 seasons in MLB as a left fielder and center fielder, primarily playing the latter since 2018.

When asked whether Marte will be the Mets’ starting right fielder on Opening Day, manager Buck Showalter gave the most definitive answer thus far on the subject.

“Right field, that’s where we’re leaning,” said Showalter. “Fits the best.”

That means the Mets’ Opening Day alignment is expected to be: Mark Canha in left, Brandon Nimmo in center, and Marte in right.

Though the Amazin’s will begin the season with that arrangement does not mean they will stick to it the entire year. Showalter has emphasized all three outfielders’ versatility and the skipper is keen on using that flexibility to his advantage, depending on situations like matchups and potential injuries.

Marte played in right for the first time on Sunday afternoon against the Cardinals, with Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer on the hill. That was also his Grapefruit League debut, which was just over a week behind his teammates because Marte was dealing with left oblique soreness to begin camp. Marte made a couple of nice catches in right that he later described as “wasn’t easy” as the outfielder continues to get familiar with a new corner position.

To the eye, Marte certainly made those catches look easy. On one play, the two-time Gold Glove award winner sprinted over 100 feet to get to the ball. Now, with exactly a week until the Mets break camp for the regular season, Marte is expected to get the majority of the rest of his spring training reps in right field.

“Starling is starting to understand the angles of the ball coming off the bat out there,” Showalter said. “He’s going to get a look at it.”

Even though Marte himself said he prefers on Opening Day to be in center field, a position where he has played 554 major-league games, the Mets like the idea of Marte as a right fielder for a couple of reasons.

One, he undoubtedly has the strongest arm among Mets outfielders. A strong arm in right field will help cut down runners trying to advance an extra base on a single, or runners trying to score a run on a ball lost in the right-field corner. Marte has 50 career assists as a left fielder, and he will get the opportunity to cut more runners down from right this season.

Two, Nimmo has significantly improved as a centerfielder and has earned the opportunity to continue showing the Mets his skill in the middle of the diamond.

Nimmo registered 5 Defensive Runs Saved last season, an improvement over his -1 DRS in 2019 and -2 DRS in 2020. Though Marte began his major-league career in Pittsburgh as a left fielder, where he garnered a pair of Gold Glove awards, he’s been almost strictly a centerfielder since 2018. Even so, Nimmo’s defensive numbers last season were better than Marte’s, who registered a -1 DRS at center in 2021.

“Everyone knows I can play centerfield,” Nimmo said last week. “I think last year proved that.”

Nimmo is also younger (29) than Marte (33) and a little faster too. The former is in the 92nd percentile in sprint speed, according to Baseball Savant, against Marte in the 83rd percentile in sprint speed. For Nimmo, the trend in his speed is also pointing up, while Marte has slightly diminished in that category as he’s gotten older the past few years.

For now, the Mets would prefer Marte’s learning curve in right field than potentially move Nimmo to left and play Canha in right. There is no real downside, as having Marte in the lineup and on the field improves the club no matter where he plays.