New York Mets outfielder Starling Marte may have still been feeling some jet lag on Saturday night.
Marte and the Mets flew across the pond to take on the Philadelphia Phillies as part of the MLB World Tour at London Stadium in London, England.
The Mets and Phillies were tied 1-1 with two outs in the top of the fourth inning with Mets starter Sean Manaea on the mound. Manaea got Phillies batter Edmundo Sosa to lift a fly ball to right field for what appeared to be the final out of the inning.
Instead, Marte — apparently wary of a potential big bounce by the ball off the turf going over his head — let the ball drop in front of him, which allowed a run to score. Manaea clearly wasn’t happy about it, either.
Starling Marte had a 95% catch probability on this RBI single from Edmundo Sosa
He jogs after it, the ball drops, and the Phillies explode for a six-run inning
His -8 OAA is the worst among all outfielders in MLB this season
pic.twitter.com/jwJhaIKo9E— James Schiano (@James_Schiano) June 8, 2024
The play was ruled an RBI single but appeared to be a very catchable ball for most MLB outfielders.
What seemed like a small miscue snowballed into a virtually game-ending mistake. Three pitches later, Phillies slugger Whit Merrifield connected on a three-run homer. A double from Christian Pache double and an RBI single from Kyle Schwarber followed, prematurely ending Manaea’s night with the Mets suddenly trailing 6-1.
Marte currently ranks the worst in the majors among outfielders with a -8 Outs Above Average (OAA) rating, which measures how many outs a defensive player successfully saves. Only infielders Luis Arraez (-9) and Christopher Morel (-11) have rated worse than Marte in OAA so far this season.
Marte went 2-of-4 with an RBI in the contest. But his defensive lapse clearly outweighed his contributions at the plate.
