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 Marte, even when he bails on the club at inopportune times.Tanner Scott’s fastball came in at 97 miles per hour. Marte’s walk-off homer, giving the Diamondbacks a split of their home series with the mighty 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 mere 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.
WALK-OFF PARTEEE pic.twitter.com/FTcEmC15kx
— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) June 5, 2026It 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 up 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,” Diamondbacks general manager Mike Hazen said Wednesday. “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, thanks to 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 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 straight season, without pay. His conduct that night left perhaps his bigger supporter in the organization, manager Torey Lovullo, feeling “betrayed.”“It’s kind of getting your heart ripped out by someone you really care about,” Lovullo told The Athletic last week. “And I felt I did deserve better.”Lovullo wasn’t the only person in uniform affected by Marte’s actions. The 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 NL wild card, held out hope until moments before first pitch that Marte would join them. The Red Sox wound up trouncing them, 11-1. Since Marte’s last appearance, the DBacks are 5-4, falling one game behind the San Diego Padres for the final NL playoff spot.Three days after his no-show in Boston, Marte apologized to Lovullo and general manager Mike Hazen during a multi-hour meeting attended by his agent, Charisse Espinosa-Dash, at the Diamondbacks’ training complex in Scottsdale, Ariz. The Diamondbacks then moved him from the restricted list to the injured list. Marte is expected to rejoin the team as soon as Monday, the first day he is eligible to come off the IL.Lovullo, in his daily news conferences, 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 comment for this story.Marte’s next step is to speak with reporters and apologize to his teammates before he comes off the IL. 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 Marte when he again says he is sorry?Marte also apologized to the club in July 2025 for missing the first three games after the All-Star break following the burglary of his home in Scottsdale. The Diamondbacks at the time were trying to avoid a selloff at the trade deadline — an effort that proved unsuccessful, even though they won their three games without Marte.
