Pittsburgh Pirates finding success for Starling Marte in two-hole

The Pittsburgh Pirates offense exploded  in last night’s 11-0 win over the Chicago White Sox. The team collected 18 hits on the day, and four of them came from the Pirates home run and RBI leader in Starling Marte. In fact, Marte has been on an incredible tear over the past five games. From June 10th onward, Marte has gone 14-for-25 with five RBI and two doubles. He slashed .560/.560/.640 in the process, raising his average from .251 to .284. 

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And he has done it all from the number two spot in the order. In front of the best protector in the Pirates lineup by way of Andrew McCutchen. McCutchen is underrated in the fact that having him in the lineup at number three every night allows Clint Hurdle to mix and match lineups and use the second spot as more of a “jump start” for guys that are struggling. And so it went for Marte, who was mired in a 4-for-35 slump in the 10 games prior to the last five. With the dramatic rise in average and overall success, the question is practically begging to be asked: should the Pirates continue to hit him at the two spot?

Here now are Marte’s complete numbers for every spot he’s hit in the order this year:

To answer the question really comes down to the philosophy of the batting order and what strengths certain batters can bring to each slot in the order. As Marte hit .348 in the second half of 2014, the Pittsburgh Pirates were well within reason to think of Marte as a run producer rather than a run creator, and thus gave him extended time in 4th and 5th slots. His numbers overall cannot be ignored, as his 12 HR and 45 RBI both lead the club. Of those 45 RBI, only eight have come from the number two position. Should the Pirates continue to bat Marte second and rely on Jung Ho Kang and Neil Walker to clean up after McCutchen? We might have to spend another column detailing their prospective travails in the four and five spots.

And so it went for Marte, who was mired in a 4-for-35 slump in the 10 games prior to the last five. With the dramatic rise in average and overall success, the question is practically begging to be asked: should the Pirates continue to hit him at the two spot?

If the Pirates are looking for something to sway them in one direction  or another, it may be Marte’s plate discipline. Assuming that Marte is seeingmuch better pitches to hit with McCutchen behind him, he has only struck out five times in 32 at-bats for a 15.6% strikeout rate. In the fourth and fifth spots combined, Marte has a 27.5% k-rate. The Pirates may end up having no choice but to keep Marte at second and allow him to continue to beat up on over-cautious pitching.

And that may just be the best thing for the Pirates lineup. Earlier this year the team seemed to be allergic to the big inning. Without digging up endless stats, a casual look at things might tell us that with two free swings in a row or close to each other in Marte and Pedro Alvarez may have put a damper on things and led to Alvarez’s solo home run binge.

The Pittsburgh Pirates will soon have to decide on which Starling Marte they prefer: the free-swinging RBI machine or the more dependable cog in the top of the order.

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