As far as I'm concerned, Marte is the only Pirates prospect that has any chance of starting in the major leagues this year. They don't have a lot in terms of hitters anywhere but in the lower levels of the minor leagues, and they are pretty set at most positions in the majors anyway. Marte is a do-it-all prospect that can help the Pirates in a big way this year if he can bring a good bat with him.
At the beginning of the year, it didn't seem like Marte really had a spot with a Pittsburgh outfield of Jose Tabata, Andrew McCutchen, and Alex Presley. Presley had a hot start to the year but seems to be completely lost now and might not even be a starter anymore. That has opened up the spot for Marte to come take, and Pittsburgh is getting a little bit anxious for that exact thing to happen.
Starling hasn't been great in the minors so far this year, he's hitting just .267/.325/.435 with two homers, three triples, and eight doubles. He certainly hasn't replicated his spring training successes, which isn't surprising at all but I'm not most people thought he'd be hitting for a much better batting average at this point.
Those numbers aren't super important right now. He has struck out 27 times in 115 at-bats and drawn just seven walks, neither of those numbers are encouraging and that could very well hold him down for longer than people anticipate. Although, with Presley not performing and Nate McLouth doing everything he can to not even be considered for the starting job, a promotion could come faster than we once thought - Marte just needs to get hot.
The job is Marte's once he's ready, he just needs to show that he's ready for a span of two or three weeks. I think he'll be called up sometime in July, but there's no real basis for me saying that. It seems that it's up to him. It could take awhile, or it could come before that month of July. I don't really know.
The other question is where do you play him when he gets here. The obvious answer is left field, but I don't think that should be so obvious. Everybody that watches him and knows what they are talking about say that he's a better defensive center fielder than Andrew McCutchen. He has good speed and a stronger arm than McCutchen. Pittsburgh would be confused seeing Cutch in left field, but that may be the best thing for this team. Time will tell.
I'll have a close eye on Marte the next few weeks, hoping he gets really hot and forces the Pirates to call him up sooner than they thought they were going to - because they are getting absolutely nothing out of their third outfielder right now.
