Why the Diamondbacks keep putting up with Ketel Marte

Ketel Marte’s walk-off homer, which gave the Arizona Diamondbacks a split of their home series with the Los Angeles Dodgers in early June, was one of the most dramatic moments of the Diamondbacks’ season, and perfectly encapsulated why team officials refuse to give up on him. (Instagram via dbacks)

By KEN ROSENTHAL / THE ATHLETIC

Ketel Marte turned toward the Arizona Diamondbacks’ dugout, flipped his bat and shook his head with the tiniest of smiles, as if to say, “Don’t mess with me.”

The moment, one of the most dramatic of the Diamondbacks’ season, perfectly encapsulated why team officials refuse to give up on him, even when he bails on the club at inopportune times.

Tanner Scott’s fastball came in at 97 mph. Marte’s walk-off homer, giving the Diamondbacks a split of their home series with the Los Angeles Dodgers in early June, went out at 113 — the sixth-hardest-hit ball by an Arizona player this season.

Marte also holds the top five exit velocities, not to mention the team’s longest homer, at 452 feet. His blast off Scott was a 431-foot shot, but stood as yet another example of how his galvanizing talent can electrify a club. Marte raised both arms in the air as his teammates gleefully surrounded him at home plate. Once free, he blew a kiss with both hands to the crowd.

It was the type of celebration teams crave, the type that prompts them to ease their standards to accommodate certain stars.

Marte, 32, is one of the top second basemen in baseball. But his latest missteps — failing to show for a game in the middle of a pennant race, then unwinding at a casino while rehabilitating a knee injury — renewed concerns.

Some of Marte’s actions might stem from personal matters he is dealing with off the field. But many around the sport still ask: Why do the Diamondbacks tolerate his behavior?

The answer is not all that complicated.

“He’s an extremely talented player,” general manager Mike Hazen said last week. “At some point, there’s a balance between what you are willing to deal with to get a level of production that can win you baseball games. We’re in the business of winning baseball games.”

Marte, when in the right frame of mind, provides elite production at a reduced rate because of the seven-year, $116.5 million contract extension he signed in April 2025, which includes $46 million deferred.

And when the Diamondbacks have considered trading him — as they did last offseason, knowing Marte would gain full no-trade protection in April as a player with 10 years of service, five consecutive with the same club — they were not offered what they perceived as fair value for a switch-hitter with game-changing power.

The Diamondbacks, when left with little choice, will discipline Marte. When he declined to leave his hotel room for a game at Fenway Park on Aug. 17, they briefly placed him on the restricted list for the second consecutive season, without pay. His conduct that night left manager Torey Lovullo, one of his big supporters, feeling betrayed.

“It’s kind of getting your heart ripped out by someone you really care about,” Lovullo said. “And I felt I did deserve better.”

Lovullo was not the only person in uniform affected by Marte’s actions. Marte, a three-time All-Star, also created a distraction for his teammates, many of whom, like Lovullo, initially were concerned only for his well-being.

The Diamondbacks, fighting for the third National League wild card, held out hope until moments before first pitch that Marte would join them. The Red Sox wound up trouncing them, 11-1.

Three days after his no-show in Boston, Marte apologized to Lovullo and Hazen during a meeting attended by his agent, Charisse Espinosa-Dash, in Scottsdale, Arizona. The Diamondbacks then moved him from the restricted list to the injured list. Marte rejoined the team Monday, when he went 1-for-3 with a walk, in the designated hitter slot, in a 2-1 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies.

Lovullo has expressed disappointment in Marte while also offering empathy, saying at one point: “I love Ketel Marte. My relationship with him is not going to change.”

Through Espinosa-Dash, Marte declined to comment for this article.

Marte’s next step is to speak with reporters and apologize to his teammates. The Diamondbacks will have little choice but to welcome him back, knowing how much he means to the club. But how seriously will they take him when he again says he is sorry?

Marte also apologized to the club in 2025 for missing the first three games after the All-Star break following the burglary of his home in Scottsdale. Shortly afterward, The Arizona Republic reported that teammates and others in the organization had “quietly grumbled about his propensity to take days off.”

Fans, reporters and even teammates are often unaware of what players endure in their personal lives. The death of Marte’s mother, Elpidia Valdez, in a July 2017 car accident was a matter of public record. Two more recent heartbreaks for Marte were not.

Marte, according to a person close to him whom he did not authorize to speak publicly, lost his maternal grandmother in the spring of 2025. He is also currently facing the loss of another close family member, the person said.

His balky knee, then, was not his only source of discontent when he secluded himself in his Boston hotel room before the opening game of the Diamondbacks’ series against the Red Sox.

The Diamondbacks knew where Marte was, according to multiple people briefed on the situation. They communicated with him through Espinosa-Dash. But up until game time, no one, including the agent, had any idea whether he would come to the park.

“When he’s frustrated, he retreats,” Lovullo said. “This was a classic case of that.”

Marte recognizes now that he was wrong for failing to appear, the person close to him said.

His appearance at a Scottsdale casino on the night of Aug. 21, while the Diamondbacks played the Cincinnati Reds at Chase Field, also showed questionable judgment but broke no rules. Marte, rehabilitating his knee, was not required to be at the park. But one teammate, granted anonymity for his candor, called it “a slap in the face.” Another said, “That was rubbing people’s noses in it.”

For some in the organization, Marte’s history of missing games at critical junctures leaves him little benefit of the doubt. But two of those absences, in late September of both 2023 and 2024, stemmed from physical issues.

In 2023, the Diamondbacks went on to win a wild card spot and advance to the World Series with Marte batting .329 with a .914 on-base plus slugging percentage in the postseason and appearing in all 17 games. In 2024, they missed the playoffs by one game. And last season, after Marte missed time after the All-Star break, the frustration of some players toward him surfaced in the Arizona Republic article.

Other teammates, however, viewed the criticism of Marte as excessive. When his home was burglarized, Marte was in his native Dominican Republic, making his first trip back since the death of his grandmother. Shortstop Geraldo Perdomo grew emotional when he interrupted one of Lovullo’s news conferences to defend Marte.

“I don’t want to speak as a teammate, I want to speak as a brother,” Perdomo said at the time. “He just wants to play baseball.”

Diamondbacks people praise Marte as a hard worker. His day-to-day conduct, they say, is not disruptive. Lovullo, however, recently expressed concern that Marte might lack a functional support system. It is not far-fetched to suggest management has been too easy on Marte. But club officials push back on that.

In essence, the Diamondbacks are willing to accept an annual hiccup or two from Marte in exchange for his production when he does play.

Marte averaged 137 games the past four seasons and still can reach that total this year. Teams covet players who outperform their salaries, providing surplus value. Marte, playing on a below-market contract, routinely offers that type of bonus.

Marte is said to be comfortable in Arizona. Why wouldn’t he be?

“What does he want to be remembered as?” one Diamondbacks person said. “At some point, this is about him, what he wants his legacy to be.”