Arizona Diamondbacks 2024 Player Review: Ketel Marte

The D-backs' star second baseman earned himself MVP votes after an incredible year.

Sep 16, 2024; Denver, Colorado, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks second base Ketel Marte (4) celebrates his two run home run in the first inning against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images / Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

This article is part of a series chronicling the individual seasons of players who appeared for the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2024. Find all previous entries in this series here.

Reviews for players who still have rookie eligibility for 2025 will appear in our prospect season reviews. Players are presented in the reverse order of their aWAR, an average of Baseball-Reference and FanGraphs WAR.

2B Ketel Marte

2024 Contract status: Second year of a 5-year extension, $13 million

Ketel Marte 2024 and career statistics / Aaron Hughes

The Arizona Diamondbacks acquired Ketel Marte in 2016. This was a different time for the D-backs, with a brand new General Manager, and a club trying to find itself.

Marte came to the Diamondbacks and made an immediate impact. He blossomed from a young shortstop with the Seattle Mariners, into the MVP calibre second baseman we know today.

2024 was a year of realization for Marte. His body, which had been failing him, was finally in a healthy place, and the numbers began to show it.

The Diamondbacks second baseman hit the ground running to start the season, posting a .307 batting average with a .865 OPS through April. His 5 home runs were also a sign of a returning power stroke in his bat that hadn't come out since 2019.

The summer months of May and June continued his hot hitting, with his OPS raising to .879 over that stretch. This propeled him into All-Star consideration, which he would eventually take home, earning him only his 2nd mid summer classic appearance of his career.

Starting at second base for the National League was an honor for Marte, but it wasn't the end of his hot performance.

On August 9th Ketel Marte's season-long batting average sat at .297, with an incredible .922 OPS. He had already hit 29 home runs, well on pace for a new career high. Then disaster struck.

The very next day while the Diamondbacks took on the Phillies, Philadelphia's backup catcher Garrett Stubbs took a terrible slide into second base. A late dive into the bag sent him flying well past where a normal baserunner would go.

Marte, fielding his position took the brunt of the impact, and as the catcher caught himself and attempted to stop, pressure was applied to Marte's ankle. The All-Star collapsed in immediate pain, his fist clenched in frustration. The once loud Chase Field crowd had grown eerily silent as their MVP candidate limped off the field.

It goes without saying that this moment was devastating. For Marte and the Diamondbacks as a whole, an injury of this size was among the worst possible scenarios.

Between multiple rushed recoveries, and re-aggrivations to the ankle, Marte was forced to be sidelined for roughly a month. It was only on September 6th that he would make his full return to the field, but things were simply not the same.

While the D-backs were forced to be more protective of Marte in order to avoid potentially making an even larger issue of the ankle sprain, his performance didn't back down. During the final stretch from September 6th to September 29th, the second baseman had a .944 OPS with 6 home runs and .386 OBP.

Through all of the inconsistencies of a baseball season, and even through the injury, Marte somehow found himself as a beacon of consistency. He managed to hit at least 5 home runs in every month of the year, and incredibly hit 18 home runs from both sides of the plate, hitting more home runs against left handed pitching than any other batter.

Even while hindered he did what he could to get the Diamondbacks to the playoffs. While they would eventually falter, dropping a tiebreaker to the Mets and Braves, Marte is not to blame for the failure.

After an incredible season like he had in 2024, his trophy case is also going to grow in size. Ontop of his All-Star appearance, Marte also finished 3rd in National League MVP voting, only finishing behind the Dodgers Shohei Ohtani, and the Mets' Fransisco Lindor.

Marte also took home the Silver Slugger award for second base, and was a finalist for the Gold Glove. Of course, he was also named to the All-MLB First Team, cementing himself as MLB's best second baseman.

2025 Outlook

2025 Contract status: Third year of a 5-year extension. $19 million

A full off-season of recovery will do Ketel Marte and his ankle some good. Coming off a career year, and still only entering his age 31 season in 2025, there is little to dictate that he cannot replicate his incredible production.

Now firmly with the second base crown in hand, it is his position to defend. The Diamondbacks will be firmly in the middle of contention in 2025, and Marte will be a key part of whatever they can accomplish.

Next season will only be the third year of Marte's 5 year contract extension which keeps him under club control through 2027 with a club option for 2028. Thanks to a $3 million bonus for his third place finish in the MVP balloting, his base salary increases from $16 to $19 million.

Ketel Marte has already cemented himself as a franchise great, and with his continued excellence both in the batters box and in the infield, he is well on track to join Randy Johnson, and Luis Gonzalez in Diamondbacks infamy upon retirement.

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