Starling Marte offers production in all categories

Starling Marte may be the best young talent not yet considered elite in a fantasy format. His 62 ESPN player rating—ahead of Silver Slugger Neil Walker, Pablo Sandoval, and Ryan Braun—and his ADP of 71 shows that people are starting to understand his value. After all, last year he was the only qualified player in MLB to hit over .290 while slugging over 10 home runs and stealing at least 30 bases. Marte’s solid play in nearly every facet of the game makes him worthy of a high pick, but in order to recognize his true value you should look at his gradual improvements over the past few seasons.

Since his debut in mid-2012, the Pirates have seen Marte improve his offense in almost every category. To go from batting .257 in 2012 to .280 in 2013 to .291 last year is no small feat. His power improvement in that stretch, from five home runs to 12 home runs to 13 home runs, isn’t anything to ignore either. The most eye-popping transformation has been going from 17 to 35 to 56 RBI. If you think those numbers may just be luck, look at how his strikeout rate has gone from 27.5 to 24.4 to 24, his OBP has gone from .300 to .343 to .356., and his slugging percentage has gone from .437 to .441 to .453. There’s no reason why this trend should not continue at his age of 26.

Marte may not be the most well-known Pirate, but his improvement and consistency should be recognized around the league and among fantasy owners. Yet in many leagues he won’t be picked until relatively late. He may not be a sleeper anymore, but he will give you very high value. Don’t be the person to pass on the young right-handed batter who has nothing standing in his way of becoming a fantasy stud in 2015.

Cole Blum is a correspondent at FantasyPros. To read more from Cole, check out his archive.