PITTSBURGH — For some reason, people keep running on Starling Marte.
The Pirates’ left fielder racked up his 15th assist against the Miami Marlins on Friday night. That figure leads the National League, and he’s showing no signs of slowing down, with three in his last six games.
It kind of makes you wonder why teams keep running on him.
So I asked Marte about it. He doesn’t seem surprised. Of course, Marte has the runner’s mentality down, too. His 41 stolen bases are third in the NL.
“I’m not surprised [that they keep running] because I know they like to run,” he said. “They want to help their team. I do the same thing on base.”
But even though he understands both sides of the coin, he doesn’t have any remorse when gunning down runners.
“When I throw out a guy, it feels good,” he said.
Marte’s called his freakish arm strength a God-given talent, but he’s had to work hard to develop the guidance system for his rocket.
“I know I have a good arm,” he said. “Before, I had a problem with throwing [accurately] to the base. It took a couple of coaches and talking and working every day about how to control my throwing. Now, I’m not perfect, but I can make some good throws to our guys to get outs.”
Sometimes, Marte will collect the ball and come up ready to fire, only to see a base coach with his arms up and a player slamming on the brakes. That feeling doesn’t quite match the feeling he gets from gunning a runner down, but he appreciates the professional respect.
“Sometimes, they know I have it going and they stop,” he said. “I feel great when I see that the coach has stopped a guy. It’s like now, they know me. They know how hard I throw.”
But that doesn’t mean he hopes for all stop signs in the future.
“I want them to keep running,” he said. “That’s what every outfielder wants, to try to throw the ball and get people out.”
HOLE IN THE LINEUP?
In the bottom of the ninth inning against the Marlins Friday night, Miami manager Don Mattingly elected to intentionally walk Marte and allowed Andrew McCutchen to hit with the bases loaded in a one-run game.
I asked Clint Hurdle if he had considered that scenario when he recently re-worked the top of the lineup and if he’s OK with that outcome:
“You anticipate a lot of things when you put a lineup together. I’ve appreciated the way McCutchen has been swinging the bat. He was put in an opportunity to win the game last night. I’m good with that. Maybe you aren’t and maybe some other people aren’t, but I’m OK with them choosing to [walk] Marte. That’s not an easy call, but it’s not a hard call. The game presents different challenges and opportunities for all of us. I don’t there’s any doubt [McCutchen] was ready for it. He just didn’t get the right result.”
ON THE MEND
Tyler Glasnow threw a 30-pitch side session Friday, with positive reviews. Manager Clint Hurdle said the staff is “mapping out a plan” for Glasnow to make his second rehab start.
Catcher Chris Stewart’s rehab is continuing with Double-A Altoona. He’s expected to catch every other day for a stretch to see how his knee responds.
