Does Starling Marte Deserve More At-Bats?

The Kansas City Royals' offense has been a frustrating dilemma this year. 

On one end, the Royals rank decently in some categories. According to Fangraphs, they rank 15th in batting average, 15th in OPS, and 18th in OBP. Those are serviceable numbers, especially given where they were as an offense at the beginning of the season.

Conversely, Kansas City ranks 23rd in runs scored, 19th in ISO, and 19th in wRC+. Thus, it's no surprise that the Royals are 20-27 heading into Monday's home game against the Boston Red Sox (Update: they lost 3-1 and are now 20-28). They just have not gotten enough consistent production to be a winning ballclub at this time.

Many different solutions have been proposed by Royals fans: Vinnie Pasquantino and Salvador Perez hitting lower in the order, more at-bats for Jac Caglianone, and Maikel Garcia out of the leadoff spot are a few that make a lot of sense.

However, one intriguing idea that hasn't been thrown out too much is giving more at-bats to veteran outfielder Starling Marte.

The Royals signed Marte late in Spring Training, and he's primarily been utilized as a bench player by manager Matt Quatraro. Marte has only played in 18 games and accumulated 48 plate appearances this season.

That said, when he has played, the 37-year-old outfielder has been productive.

He's slashing .302/.354/.372 with a .726 OPS and 104 wRC+ this season. He hasn't hit a home run, and his ISO and BB/K ratio are paltry at .070 and 0.23, respectively. However, he has shown the ability to make effective, hard contact this year, as reflected in his Statcast percentiles via TJ Stats. 

Could Marte provide the Royals the spark they need with more regular at-bats? Or is Marte's stat line just a product of a hot start that is due for regression soon?

Marte Hitting Better Against Righties Than Lefties This Year (But Has That Been Typical?)

With only 48 plate appearances this year, Marte doesn't have a huge sample size to work with. However, it's been interesting to see his splits this year, as they contrast with how Quatraro has utilized him.

Of his 48 plate appearances, 34 of them have come against lefties. He typically has been the right fielder against left-handed starting pitchers, with Caglianone getting the day off in right field against southpaws. However, while Marte is hitting .300 against lefties, his OPS is only .686. Conversely, his OPS against righties is .819 (albeit in just 14 plate appearances). 

When looking at his Statcast percentile splits via TJ Stats, he also seems to be hitting the ball harder and with more exit velocity against lefties than righties as well.

Against righties, Marte chases less (20.8% O-Swing% against righties; 37.3% O-Swing% against lefties), launches the ball better (44.4% LA Sweet-Spot% against righties; 33.3% LA Sweet-Spot% against lefties), has a better hard-hit rate (55.6% hard-hit rate against righties; 23.8% hard-hit rate against lefties), and barrels the ball more as well (22.2% barrel rate against righties; 4.8% against lefties). Thus, Marte may not exactly be the platoon "bat" that Quatraro thinks that he is, based on the various levels of splits data.

What's also interesting about Marte is that he was better against lefties last year, and we're seeing an inverse of what he did against pitchers splits-wise with the Mets. That is evident in his Statcast splits percentiles from 2025 via TJ Stats. 

Against lefties, Marte had a better hard-hit rate (50.5% to 32.8%), a better pull air% (14.4% to 9.5%), and a better xwOBA (.324 to .301). That said, it wasn't like the difference between Marte's performance against righties and lefties was dramatic (like Vinnie Pasquantino this year, for example). Marte's wOBA was .321 against lefties and .329 against righties, and his barrel rate was 6.8% against lefties and 8.0% against righties.

Thus, I am not sure Marte should be seen as simply a hitter who should only hit against lefties, like a Lane Thomas, for example. Here's a look at Thomas' Statcast splits this season with the Royals, and the difference in his performance against lefties and righties is quite dramatic.

Thus, based on the data, one could argue that Marte deserves more at-bats this season. For him to do that, he needs to get more plate appearances against righties and shouldn't be seen as just a left-handed pitcher's only option, whether that's in the starting lineup or off the bench in key pinch-hitting spots. 

Marte Showing Positive Bat Speed and Exit Velocity Trends This Year

There's no question that at 37 years old, the Dominican-born native is showing some declining skills. According to Baseball Savant, Marte ranks in the 8th percentile for sprint speed. That said, bat speed, which can decline with age, has actually been pretty decent. 

Marte is averaging 72.5 MPH on his swings, which ranks in the 60th percentile and is only 0.1 MPH lower than a season ago. His fast-swing rate, which measures swings of 75 MPH or higher, is down over 10 percent from a year ago. It was 33.2% in 2025 with the Mets, and it's 23.1% this year with the Royals. However, he's been showing a positive trend in bat speed over the course of the 2026 season, despite a tough stretch, as shown below in his bat-speed rolling chart.

He saw a decline from his 35th competitive swing to roughly his 50th competitive swing. After his 50th swing, he's seen that bat speed increase, and he's been above the MLB average in bat speed since the 57th-58th competitive swing.

In addition to better bat speed as he has gained more at-bats, the same could be said of his exit velocity on batted balls, which has spiked as well after some initial valleys at the beginning of the season. 

Marte started the year well with his first 14 batted balls being above-average in terms of exit velocity. However, that exit velocity declined dramatically from the 14th batted-ball mark to the 22nd batted-ball mark. He's turned things around since that 22nd batted-ball mark and has now been back above league average in terms of exit velocity. That's a sign that he's not only swinging the bat faster, but squaring up and making better contact as well, with more plate appearances.

As a result, his xwOBA rolling trend, which is a better indicator for future success than wOBA, is moving up in the right direction, showing that he could only be more productive with more games played. Here's a look at Marte's xwOBA rolling chart this year, via Savant.

Granted, Marte didn't do well in his lone pinch-hit at-bat on Monday night in the Royals' 3-1 loss, as he struck out against Red Sox closer Aroldis Chapman. That lowered his batting average to .295 and his OPS to .711. 

Still, despite that strikeout, his xwOBA chart is trending in the right direction and has sat well above the league average since his 35th plate appearance this year.

Who Does Marte Take At-Bats Away From?

If Marte is going to receive more at-bats, who sits as a result?

I would argue that Salvador Perez and Isaac Collins should be the main ones affected by an increase in Marte's at-bats. The latter makes the most sense when looking at how Royals outfielders have performed this year so far. 

In terms of Perez, Marte would make sense as a guy who can be in the DH spot and give Salvy a night off against righties with Jensen behind the plate.

Salvy is struggling this year with a .201 average and .590 OPS in 192 plate appearances. Conversely, Salvy's splits against lefties have been way better than against righties. He is hitting .227 with a .709 OPS against lefties. Against righties? He's only hitting .197 with a .556 OPS. The Statcast splits share a similar story, as shown below.

I think it's perfectly reasonable for Marte to replace Perez at DH once a week, at the very least, maybe two, depending on the pitching matchups that particular week. That preserves Salvy's stamina and gives Marte more opportunities for at-bats against righties. 

Another option would be to replace Collins once a week with Marte in left field. Marte may be a riskier defensive option (though Collins' -3 OAA this year is pretty brutal), but Collins has been a mixed bag against righties this year. The .244 average and .740 OPS against righties are great, especially compared to his .178 average and .512 OPS against lefties. However, the Statcast percentiles show that Collins is a little more strikeout-prone against righties than lefties.

His whiff rate against lefties is five percent lower, and his Z-Contact% is 6.7% higher as well. He also has a 50% hard-hit rate against lefties compared to 40.7% hard-hit rate against righties, as well as a 91.1 MPH average EV against lefties, which is 2.5 MPH higher. 

I'm not saying Marte should completely replace Collins. However, once a week seems sufficient, especially since Collins can be very hot and cold at times at the plate. He is hitting .130 with a .174 slugging percentage in his last 24 at-bats. The former Brewers outfielder could use a day off, with Marte taking his place in the lineup and in left field.

It's not a major change, which is what the Royals need, especially with Vinnie and Salvy not looking dramatically better at the plate lately. Kansas City needs an impact hitter, and that likely will have to come through the trade market. 

That said, the Royals need all the positive production they can get on their active roster, especially since it's too early to make a trade. 

Quatraro might as well roll the dice and see what else Marte has left in the tank, especially against right-handed starting pitchers.