Ketel Marte has quietly put up one of the best stretches for a second baseman in MLB history

Ketel Marte is far from an unknown quantity. He helped lead the Diamondbacks to the World Series in 2023 and finished third in NL MVP voting last season after a career year that included 36 home runs and a .932 OPS in 136 games. 

Still, you might not be appreciating just how good he’s become and the historic stretch he’s in. Maybe that’s because he hasn’t played more than 150 games in a season since 2018. He missed time near the end of last year and a month with a hamstring injury around the start of this season that masked his greatness just a little bit. 

So you haven’t seen him really put together a full year but we can see how monstrous the numbers would be by looking at his last 162 games, the equivalent of a full season.

Sunday’s home run off Cal Quantrill gave Marte five in his last nine games and an astounding 48 homers in the last 162 games. That ties Brian Dozier for the most home runs in a 162-game span by a primary second baseman in MLB history. 

This list includes some recent power threats at the position (Marcus Semien and Brandon Lowe), an all-time great at the position (Rogers Hornsby) and a few other household names (Alfonso Soriano, Ryne Sandberg). 

Most home runs in a 162-game span by primary second baseman

Second base may be home to some of the weaker hitters in the game, but it’s still incredible that no second baseman has ever homered more over this stretch of games. Not names like Jeff Kent, Robinson Cano, Chase Utley, Craig Biggio and Joe Morgan, or some power threats like Dan Uggla or Bret Boone.

Marte will have a chance to top this list if he hits a home run in any of his next three games because he did not homer in any of the first three games of this current rolling 162-game stretch, which began on May 1, 2024.

As you can imagine, he has been far and away the best second baseman in baseball during this stretch, slugging 100 points higher than anyone else at the position over his last 162 games. If you zoom out at the entire league over that span, only two batters are slugging better than Marte: Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani.

Marte’s last 162 games (since May 1, 2024)

The last 162 games provides a snapshot of what a healthy Marte could do with a full season, which is nothing short of one of the best offensive stretches for a second baseman in MLB history. He’s one of the best hitters in baseball if you include all of the last two seasons, which coincides with him turning 30 years old. He ranks top 10 in the majors in batting average (.296), on-base percentage (.382), slugging (.571), on-base plus slugging (.953), home runs (53) and fWAR (9.2) in the last two seasons. 

Marte’s last two seasons

He’s never played better than he has this year, either. He’s slashing .305/.405/.600 with 17 home runs and a 1.005 OPS in 57 games. It’s shaping up to be one of the best offensive years by a second baseman ever.

• Entering Sunday, he had a 174 OPS+. The last qualified second baseman with a mark that high for a full season was Joe Morgan in 1976.
• He has 17 home runs and 32 walks this season. Only two second basemen have ever hit both marks through 57 games in the modern era (since 1901). That would be Jeff Kent in 2000 and Rogers Hornsby in 1925.

It all makes sense if you look under the hood, too. He’s posting career bests in walk rate (13.2%), chase rate (23.7%) and pull-air rate (23.5%), which explains the absurd combination of power and patience. His plate approach is aging like fine wine at 31 years old. He has drawn 32 walks and struck out only 38 times this year. He’s never come close to a one-to-one ratio in that department. 

His bat speed is just getting better since it was first recorded in 2023, too.

• 2023: 73.2 MPH (67th percentile in MLB)
• 2024: 73.7 MPH (78th percentile in MLB)
• 2025: 74.7 MPH (86th percentile in MLB) 

The Diamondbacks have been snake bitten with injuries (Corbin Carroll and Corbin Burnes for starters) and sit one game below .500 around the midpoint of the year, but don’t let it stop you from appreciating Marte’s leap to one of the best hitters in baseball. 

We probably won’t be lucky enough to see his counting stats reach historic levels this year because he missed about a month with a hamstring injury. But the underlying metrics show this historic start to 2025 could continue and it’s part of one of the best stretches at second base ever.