Robinson Cano says: Watch out for Mariners' youngster Marte in 2016
In 22-year-old infielder Ketel Marte, the Seattle Mariners have an intriguing young player that could blossom into a linchpin of the roster next season.
Marte's mentor and unofficial 'big brother', Robinson Cano, expects to see just that once next season rolls around.
Cano spoke about Marte with MLB.com's Greg Johns earlier this week, and he likes what he's seen so far:
"I think he's going to be good. I'd like to see it more. I know he's got talent. I know what I see from him. He bunts, moves guys over, he got hits when we needed them in big moments."
Marte spent much of the 2015 season in the minors, though he did appear in 58 games for the Mariners. During that span, he hit .283/.351/.402 and stole eight bases in 219 at-bats. In fact, he made the most out of his limited playing time by posting a 2.3 WAR in just a few months.
His exuberance left an impression on Cano, but the veteran took care to impart some wisdom on the young Marte after the season ended.
Specifically, he focused on how Marte should go about preparing for his second season in the big-leagues:
"I loved what I saw from him," Cano said. "But I told him he needs to go home and say, 'Yeah, I did good in my first year in the big leagues, but the second one is the toughest one because now people have high expectations. You have to go home and keep working on your speed. I don't care if you want to hit 30 homers. Your job is to get on base for us and when you do that, get on base and steal bases, people are going to talk more about you than if you just hit homers.'"
Marte quickly made his impact felt on the Mariners in a short period of time in 2015, and heading into 2016 the stage appears to be set for a significant breakout.
