Ain’t No Fang podcast: How many awards can Ketel Marte earn this season?

Arizona Diamondbacks star Ketel Marte is firmly in the conversation for hardware at the end of the season, including Gold Glove, Silver Slugger and potentially National League MVP.

Marte has been on fire since the All-Star break with nine home runs, 21 RBIs and a 1.195 OPS in 16 games of which the D-backs have won 12. As Marte goes, so have the D-backs as they fight to keep a wild card spot and challenge the Los Angeles Dodgers at only five games back of the NL West lead.

The switch-hitter can coast to a Silver Slugger at second base, the first of his career. He leads all second basemen with a .923 OPS and 28 home runs and 78 RBIs. Gold Glove is also in the cards, as Marte is having his best season as a pro at second base.

Only Paul Goldschmidt and Zack Greinke have won both a Silver Slugger and Gold Glove in the same season for the Diamondbacks.

Arizona has not yet had an MVP, as Goldschmidt finished second twice while Gonzalez came in third in 2001. Marte was fourth back in 2019.

The last major leaguer to take home all three awards in a single season was Cody Bellinger of the Dodgers back in 2019. It has been done only seven times in the 21st century.

After Marte’s clutch home run during Arizona’s five-run ninth inning against the Nationals last week, manager Torey Lovullo vouched for Marte to receive MVP consideration.

Lourdes Gurriel Jr. said through Spanish interpreter, “I think it’s gonna be a historical year for him.”

“He’s been incredible since game one,” Corbin Carroll told Arizona Sports’ Wolf & Luke last week. “It’s been really fun to play with him and watch him from both sides of the plate just killing balls. The defense has been really good this year. It just seems like he’s got extra range this year, getting a few balls maybe he wasn’t getting to before. So I think he’d tell you he’s as motivated as anyone.”

Over the next six games, Marte put up a two-homer day, recorded RBIs in five out of the six games and Arizona went 5-1. He led off Monday’s game in Cleveland with a home run to left.

Ketel Marte’s awards competitors

NL MVP

Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani remains the clear betting favorite for MVP, leading the NL in WAR (both FanGraphs at 5.9 and Baseball Reference  at 6.1) despite not playing an inning of defense this season.

But Marte has become Ohtani’s greatest challenger, and Marte has outperformed Ohtani since the calendar turned to July.

Going back even further, Marte leads the NL with a 1.073 OPS, 49 RBIs and a .419 on-base percentage since the start of June. He is second in the league over that span with 18 homers, only trailing Ohtani with 20.

Ohtani is on his way to a 40-40 season with 34 homers and 32 stolen bases. Only five players in AL/NL history have had 40-40 seasons, including 2023 NL MVP Ronald Acuna Jr.

Ohtani is also in contention for a triple crown, leading the NL with a .309 batting average and his 34 homers. He is five RBIs back of Atlanta’s Marcell Ozuna.

The Dodgers have faced injury adversity, too, but they have led the division all year. The D-backs were in a hole below .500 during the first half with injuries and underperformance putting pressure on the club. Marte helped them tread water and his outstanding last couple months have propelled the team into contention.

Marte needs to continue to make up ground with the bat while adding award-caliber defense to compete for the WAR title. The D-backs face more injury adversity with Christian Walker going down with an oblique strain last week and Gabriel Moreno suffering a groin strain on Monday. Arizona staying in the division race with Marte leading the charge would back an already strong case.

Silver Slugger

This race appears to be a rout.

No other qualified second baseman in Major League Baseball has even an .800 OPS. Luis Arraez won it last year but he has a pedestrian .715 OPS this season.

Marte can become only the fifth player with multiple 30-homer, .900-OPS seasons while playing most of their games at second base. Bret Boone, Rogers Hornsby, Jeff Kent and Chase Utley are the others, according to Stathead.

Gold Glove

Chicago’s Nico Hoerner won the 2023 NL Gold Glove at second base, San Francisco’s Thairo Estrada leads the NL with nine outs above average (which measures range) and Milwaukee’s Brice Turang paces with 17 defensive runs saved (how many runs a player saves or costs his team on defense).

Marte is right there among the top three in both metrics, and when you combine the two, only Turang leads him (20). Marte has six OAA and 11 DRS.

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