Ketel Marte Named NLCS Most Valuable Player
With the Diamondbacks advancing to the World Series, there was only one choice for the National League Championship Series Most Valuable Player. That honor went to second baseman Ketel Marte, who hit .387 (12-for-31) with four doubles, a triple, three RBI, and two runs scored. Before this postseason, manager Torey Lovullo challenged his second baseman to have the type of run that would make him famous. After winning the NLCS MVP, the entire baseball world now knows his name.
"The whole idea is to give everything I got" said Marte through interpreter Rolando Valles. "Thankfully things are working out."
When most of the lineup was struggling for the first half of the NLCS, Marte carried the team offensively. His signature moment of the series came in Game 3. Down 2-0 in the series and needing a win in the worst way possible, Marte came up with the bases loaded and singled home the winning run. That became just the third postseason walk-off hit in franchise history and began to flip the momentum of the series. In Game 7, Marte broke the record for a postseason hitting streak to start a career with a sixth inning double to make it 16 games in a row. The previous record was 15, by Marquis Grissom with the Atlanta Braves in 1995-96.
Marte will go down in D-backs history as the first major trade acquisition by general manager Mike Hazen. He was a part of the last team to make a postseason run, as the starting shortstop for the 2017 squad. Six years and a whole new core of players later, he is now the longest tenured player on the roster. When the D-backs lost 110 games in 2021, they could have sold high on Marte for the best prospect talent. Instead they not only held onto him, but extended him through the 2026 season. Those two decisions are paying dividends right now.
"There's a reason why I got extended to stay with the D-backs. I thank God for the opportunity to show what he's got."
In the postseason Marte has been the team's best hitter, hitting .358 with a .986 OPS. The D-backs will need him to stay hot for one more series in order to take home a championship.
