Starling Marte is making progress toward his Mets return.
The right fielder began a rehab assignment for his right knee bone bruise on Wednesday, going 1-for-3 with a stolen base with Low-A St. Lucie.
Serving as the designated hitter and batting second, Marte lined a soft single to right field and stole second base in the first inning, then struck out in the third and fifth innings against Bradenton, a Pittsburgh Pirates affiliate, at Clover Park in Port St. Lucie, Fla.
Marte was removed for a pinch hitter after his third at-bat, as expected.
The game was interrupted by a 56-minute rain delay going into the third inning, but Marte remained in the lineup once play resumed.
Starling Marte with a hit and a stolen base in the first inning! pic.twitter.com/NMX1bblrQC
— St. Lucie Mets (@stluciemets) August 7, 2024
The Mets have been without Marte, 35, since June 22, when he left in the second inning of a road loss to the Chicago Cubs. When he went on the injured list three days later, the Mets said Marte would miss at least a month.
“What we don’t want is for me to kind of rush back onto the field and then for that pain to come again and not go away,” Marte said on July 20 through a team translator. “That’s what the doctor says. We want to avoid that.”
The Dominican-born veteran underwent double groin surgery in November 2022, then missed the final two months of the 2023 season with a right groin strain.
This year, Marte is hitting .278 with seven home runs, 30 RBI and 12 stolen bases through 66 games in what has been a resurgent season at the plate. The two-time Gold Glove winner’s defense, however, has continued to trend downward in recent years.
In Marte’s absence, the Mets have used Jeff McNeil, Tyrone Taylor and the recently acquired Jesse Winker in right field. DJ Stewart also saw time at the position before being sent down with Winker’s arrival through a trade with Washington.
The righty-swinging Marte — who has batted second, fifth and sixth for the Mets this season — dealt with knee soreness for several weeks before being sidelined.
“I felt good to the point where I got hurt,” Marte said last month. “At that point, the team was turning it around. But at the same time, you’re kind of heartbroken by the situation because you want to be able to go out there to help the team win. When you’re not expecting [it] at all, it’s hard. It’s hard to just be a bystander and a spectator.”
Marte was not the only rehabbing Met to appear in a minor-league game Wednesday. Reliever Sean Reid-Foley threw a scoreless inning at Triple-A Syracuse, working around two hits and a walk against the Worcester Red Sox.
The right-hander ended his outing by striking out Triston Casas, who was also making a rehab appearance for Boston, with a 95-mph fastball to escape a bases-loaded jam. He threw 15 of his 20 pitches for strikes.
On the IL since June 22 with a right shoulder impingement, Reid-Foley has now made five rehab appearances, totaling five earned runs over 3.1 innings with High-A Brooklyn, Double-A Binghamton and Triple-A Syracuse.
Reid-Foley has a 1.66 ERA over 21.2 innings with the Mets.
Fellow reliever Reed Garrett made his second rehab appearance Tuesday, throwing a scoreless inning at Triple-A Syracuse as he works back from right elbow inflammation. On Sunday, Garrett surrendered three runs and recorded only one out with Double-A Binghamton.
Garrett, who last pitched for the Mets on July 9, emerged as a high-leverage reliever this season, boasting a 3.64 ERA and 63 strikeouts in 42.0 innings.
On Tuesday, Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said rookie starter Christian Scott was “feeling better” after going on the IL on July 23 with a UCL sprain. Scott was expected to resume throwing within the “next few days,” the manager said.
Mendoza hoped rookie reliever Dedniel Núñez, meanwhile, would throw a bullpen session by the end of the week. Núñez (right pronator strain) went on the IL on July 26.
