On Monday, the Royals officially announced that they signed Starling Marte to a one-year contract worth $1 million guaranteed with active roster bonuses and performance bonuses that can increase to $3 million.
Marte has had an excellent career. In his 14 years in MLB, he has accrued 35.9 fWAR, two Gold Glove awards, and two All-Star team selections. He has a career slash line of .285/.342/.440 with a 115 wRC+. Even at his age, Marte proved that he can still be an offensive asset, especially to this Royals outfield that totaled a league-worst 70 wRC+ in 2025. Last year, in his age-36 season, Marte slashed .270/.335/.410 with a 112 wRC+.
Marte’s Statcast metrics from last season don’t necessarily jump off the page like they used to early in his career, and a lot of his metrics grade slightly below league-average. That said, he still offers an above-league-average 90th-percentile exit velocity, showing he is capable of hitting for some power but less consistently. He also offers an above-average zone swing rate and strikeout rate. The only metric that he was poor in last season was his pull rate at 31.7%, and the overall average exit velocity of 85.9 mph.
If you look back to 2024, he was well above average in xwOBA (.342), expected batting average (.285), and hard hit rate (42.9%). However, it would be unreasonable to assume that he will meaningfully progress at his age.
In the outfield, Marte has a career reputation for providing good defense. He won two Gold Gloves when he was the Pirates’ everyday centerfielder in 2015 and 2016. Ten years later, he finds himself playing in one of the corner outfield positions, most often in right field. In 2025, he transitioned to mainly a designated hitter, only playing 65 total innings in the outfield.
Marte has not registered a positive outs above average (OAA) since 2021. For reference, Marte registered -8 OAA in 2024, and other Royals outfielders Kyle Isbel and Isaac Collins posted +4 and +12 OAA, respectively. While Marte’s arm strength is still good, providing slightly positive run value, his range in the outfield is not what it used to be. His sprint speed has decreased consistently over the past several years. After consistently grading around the 90th percentile, his sprint speed fell to the 27th percentile last season.
All that being said, where does Marte fit in the Royals outfield?
After the signing of Marte, the Royals now have five outfielders on the MLB roster: Marte, Jac Caglianone, Collins, Isbel, and Lane Thomas. Before the signing, the projected setup includes Collins in left, Isbel in center, and Caglianone in right with Thomas platooning with Isbel or Caglianone against left-handed pitching. How much does Marte impact this plan?
The short answer is that if everything goes right, Marte won’t need to feature in the starting lineup too often. The expectation is that he will offer the Royals added roster flexibility to start in place of the starters when needed and to provide rest to keep players fresh throughout the season.
The main area that Marte will be used against is left-handed pitching. The Royals greatly struggled against lefties in 2025. Despite the additions of right-handed Thomas and switch-hitting Collins, the outlook against lefties in 2026 was still not promising. Against lefties, Marte has posted a wRC+ above 100 in four of the last five seasons. Marte could offer relief for Collins or Caglianone in the corner outfield spots against lefties to help with the lineup’s overall production.
If Marte does find himself in an everyday role, it will come mostly at the designated hitter position, since that was his main position last season. Considering that the Royals didn’t have an everyday DH last season, Marte could naturally slot in that role. Last year, the Royals had 20 different players lined up as the designated hitter, with Salvador Perez being the most common DH with 38 appearances. Manager Matt Quatraro frequently used the DH spot to rest players like Perez and Vinnie Pasquantino without having to take their bats out of the lineup. However, in 2025, the carousel of Royals players did not perform at the DH position, collectively posting a wRC+ of 69. Even league-average production from Marte could offer much-needed stability at that position, which lacked consistent run production.
While Marte is right-handed, he is very capable against right-handed pitching. In 2025, he posted a 115 wRC+ against righties, better than his 109 wRC+ against lefties. He should have no problem slotting into the primary designated hitter role in Kansas City, rather than a platoon spot, if asked to do so. If Carter Jensen can continue his hot form from last September (159 wRC+ in 69 PAs) and this spring (1.334 OPS in 12 PAs) into the 2026 season, he will command a majority of the designated hitter at-bats while Perez is still the starting catcher. Marte can serve as a capable “fail-safe” if Jensen struggles to acclimate to a full season in the majors.
At his age, Marte is probably not expecting to be a full-time starter for this Royals team. He has not started more than 100 games in the last three seasons, nor more than 120 since 2019. It would be reasonable to expect him to share designated hitter duties with Jensen, Perez, and Pasquantino whenever they aren’t playing catcher or first base. He will also spend limited innings in the outfield to relieve Collins or Caglianone when needed, but ideally that role will fall primarily to Lane Thomas.
Overall, Starling Marte does not drastically change the Royals’ outlook for 2026, but it does offer a clear improvement that raises this team’s floor. While not offering eye-popping power numbers, he offers above-average run production at the DH position and added flexibility in depth for this re-tooled Kansas City outfield, especially against left-handed pitching. His veteran presence will be a welcome complement to the young outfielders like Caglianone and Collins as they grow into everyday roles with the Royals. With a very sensible salary of $1 million guaranteed, signing Marte is definitely a risk worth taking.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source royalskeep.com ’
