Starling Marte active for Mets wild card series, but injury is still lingering

The big question for the Mets over the last three weeks has been the postseason availability of injured outfielder Starling Marte. The club included him on its NL wild card series roster against the San Diego Padres, but it’s unclear how much he can do with the lingering finger injury.

The Mets released their postseason roster Friday with very few surprises. Marte is on the roster and hitting sixth in the first game. Rookie catcher Francisco Alvarez and struggling DH Darin Ruf are also active and maybe the only surprising omission was outfielder Tyler Naquin, who has been playing in right field in Marte’s absence but has struggled this month.

Naquin hit just .185 in September and October, but it’s unclear whether Marte is playing at 100 percent strength.

“Who is 100 percent this time of year?” manager Buck Showalter said. “We’ll see.”

Marte was hit by a pitch Sept. 6 and suffered a non-displaced fracture in his right middle finger. He’s been participating in light baseball activities this week but the Mets have continually emphasized that he has not been able to grip a bat or a ball without pain. He took dry swings Monday, played catch Wednesday and has been taking batting practice off of Tommy Hunter and Phillip Diehl.

Showalter slotted him in at No. 6 with the consideration that he may have to replace him if the finger is aggravated.

“You know what you’ve got to think about? What it does to your batting order if something happens and he has to come out of the game,” Showalter said. “That’s a what-if.”

The Mets have an idea of how the Padres might use their bullpen and felt the No. 6 spot was a lower-pressure spot for Marte, as well as a spot that gives them pinch-hitting options if need be. The hope is to be able to move him back up to the second spot Saturday.

“With where they are in their bullpen and things we have to be careful of,” Showalter said. “With anybody, not just Starling, I say, ‘OK, if something happens and they have to come out, what does it create?’ It worked the best for us right now, tonight, with all of the things that could happen. We hope they don’t happen but you’ve got to be prepared.”

In the first year of a four-year contract, Marte was selected to the NL all-star team, became a trusted No. 2 hitter and standout defender in right field. This isn’t a lineup of long-ball hitters, so the Mets depend on players like Marte to set the table and drive in runs, especially against left-handed pitching. The right-handed hitting Marte hit .302 with a .877 OPS against the left-handed pitching before the injury.

Ruf, who is on the roster for the weekend after sitting out last week with a neck strain, was acquired to hit left-handed pitching but hasn’t really done so. He’s managed just six hits in 66 at-bats.

So, the solution might be Francisco Alvarez, the 20-year-old highly-heralded prospect the Mets called up a week ago. A right-handed bat that hits left-handed pitching well, the Mets will likely look to him Saturday in Game 2 against left-hander Blake Snell.

Alvarez is also an option to pinch-hit and catch, getting his first Major League game behind the plate Wednesday. He’s considered one of the top prospects in the game and while he hasn’t put up big numbers yet he did blast a monster 439-foot home run Tuesday against the Washington Nationals. He’s one of three catchers on the roster, with Tomas Nido and James McCann.

The Mets opted to carry 12 pitchers, but they don’t have a true long reliever. Starters Carlos Carrasco and Taijuan Walker both pitched earlier in the week, as did long man/spot-starter Trevor Williams, and the Mets are saving them in case they advance to the NLDS.

Left-handed David Peterson came up as a starting pitcher but went into the bullpen out of necessity and has become the go-to lefty specialist. The Mets only have two active left-handers, Peterson and Joely Rodriguez, and are carrying both of them. So it’s Tylor Megill that is expected to play the long relief role, which is a gamble considering he did not pitch well in a high-leverage situation last weekend in Atlanta, allowing two earned runs in 2/3 of an inning in relief for Jacob deGrom.

“I think the last couple of outings we’ve been starting to see him more like the guy we thought we might get,” Showalter said. “There have been a couple of little adjustments that [pitching coach Jeremy Hefner] and him have made that played out real well the last two outings. Just trusted it. We’ll see where it takes him, but it’s a good experience for him too.”