After a quiet start, Ketel Marte is suddenly the MLB’s hottest hitter

Early in the 2026 MLB season, there’s been a handful of no-shows that are making headlines. At the top of this list is Fernando Tatis Jr.’s ongoing home run drought, which earned our attention almost a month ago. Only he and Chandler Simpson— who couldn’t even put one over the fence in high school— are homerless.

Cal Raleigh, Trea Turner, Manny Machado, and Pete Crow-Armstrong are a few others that have severely underperformed. This past week, one big name departed that group, in a matter of games.

Back-to-back All-Star starter Ketel Marte was among this crew through the first month and a half of play. The D-Backs’ second baseman plummeted to a .209 AVG with a .614 OPS through the first 35 games of 2026.

Between 2024 and 2025, Ketel Marte led qualified second basemen in Offensive WAR with 63.3, which nearly doubled the next-best mark of 33.0 from Jazz Chisholm Jr. However, through 35 games, Marte’s Offensive WAR came out to -0.1, which feels unreal given his dominance over the position in recent years.

At age 32, many wondered if Marte’s once-elite strength was starting to fade. Others questioned if his World Baseball Classic participation may have steered him off course.

However, Marte’s advanced metrics supported neither of these theories. Veteran manager Torey Lovullo understood this, and his professionalism in the game of patience is starting to pay dividends.

Marte’s been here before

Consistency at the plate has been Marte’s calling card for years, which added concern to this early-season slump. But should we really have been concerned?

In 2024, a season in which Marte finished third in the MVP race, he went through essentially the same exact slump in the middle of the season. Take a look at the numbers side-by-side.

• 2024 Mid-Season (35 G): .207 AVG, 5 HR, .386 SLG, 35 K
• 2026 Start of Season (35 G): .209 AVG, 5 HR, .353 SLG, 29 K

Almost the same slump didn’t stop Marte from finishing behind Shohei Ohtani and Francisco Lindor for the NL MVP award.

The difference between the slumps is solely the context. In 2024, Marte was running a .344 AVG prior to the slump, which made it fly under the radar in his stat line.

Meanwhile, the nature of early season struggles tends to be far less forgiving in the eyes of fans and evaluators alike. Because of the difficult nature of hitting, it’s never easy to expect a player to dig themselves out of a hole.

However, that brings us to the next important detail: Marte was never really struggling performance-wise.

Underperforming expected numbers

We talk about expected numbers a ton, and how a player should be playing based on their quality of contact, contact rate, launch angles, etc. However, Marte’s advanced numbers really jump out.

Marte’s bat speed (averaged between both sides of the plate) is still well above MLB average at 74.5 mph. His swing is down all but 0.1 mph from his stellar 2025 campaign.

As it stands, Marte profiles among the league’s better power hitters. Here’s some of his percentile ranks this season:

• 98th Percentile in Expected Batting Average
• 89th Percentile in Expected Slugging Percentage
• 85th Percentile in Average Exit Velocity
• 77th Percentile in Hard-Hit Rate
• 75th Percentile in Barrel Rate

Assuming his current walk rate, Marte’s expected marks indicate that he should nearly be a .900 OPS hitter. That’s a big jump from the .614 mark that he bottomed out at.

Under this logic, Marte was bound to bounce back eventually if he continued to play his brand of baseball. The last roadblock was trust. Both in his own approach, and externally from his manager Torey Lovullo.

Trust in the process

After homering in back-to-back games as part of his recent surge, Marte explained that Torey Lovullo’s continued belief has been key in his turnaround:

“Usually at this stage in the season, I have really good numbers. But Torey has always told me, ‘You’re making good contact. Don’t be so hard on yourself. You’re playing good defense.’ Torey and I have a great relationship, almost like father and son. Great communication. It’s very special that he’s always trusted in me.”

— Ketel Marte, to reporters during the San Francisco series (May 20, 2026)

Now, managers are expected to do their best to keep their players uplifted and out of their heads. However, it’s not just words that have backed him during his slow start. Throughout the first 50 games, Torey Lovullo has penciled in Marte as his leadoff hitter 39 times. Nine times, he batted second. One day he took the cleanup role, and another he batted fifth.

Giving pep talks and encouragement is one thing. However, batting Marte first or second in 48 of 50 games regardless of his woes is genuine trust.

The approach to turning his season around was as simple as it gets. Just keep doing what you’re doing, hitting where you hit, and approaching every day like the team’s superstar.

Safe to say, it’s working.

The hottest hitter in baseball

Ketel Marte, riding a nine-game hitting streak, is 21 for his last 37 (.568). The D-Backs have won 8 of their last 10, thanks in big part to Marte’s big swings.

On May 19, Ketel launched a walk-off, three-run blast against the Giants down to the final out while trailing 2-3. The swing was just about as clutch as it gets, and it allowed Marte to find his home run swing again.

The next day, he mashed another go-ahead blast, this time in the third inning. After a few more knocks, Marte homered again on the 23rd, a 424-foot missile that came off the bat at 112.4 mph. In the series finale, Marte would come up with a pair of doubles as part of another three-hit performance.

Since May 16, Marte leads the MLB in AVG, SLG, and OPS by a wide margin. Here’s his line in that stretch:

• Marte Since 5/16 (9 G): .568 AVG, 9 XBH, .973 SLG, 1.568 OPS, 1.3 fWAR

Averaging an extra-base hit per game is ridiculous, but it goes to show just the kind of power-contact blend Marte boasts when he’s right. Through this stretch of 42 plate appearances, Marte has only struck out twice.

Thanks to the explosion, Marte’s season OPS is hovering just under .800 at .797. He’s already catapulted into the top 30% of hitters in Batting Run Value for the season. While it’s just a nine-game stretch, it sure looks like Marte is trending towards starting at second base for the National League in yet another All-Star Game.