Yunior Marte
For Yunior Marte, it has certainly been a recurring story of wasted potential for the 29-year-old reliever. After being a solid reliever with a dominant strikeout ability coming up in the Kansas City Royals and San Francisco Giants minor league systems, Marte struggled to a 5.44 ERA and 1.44 WHIP in his debut season with the Giants in 2022.
Nevertheless, the Phillies saw untapped potential in the flamethrower that they were looking to unearth when they acquired Marte from the Giants during the 2022-23 offseason. However, he was never able to secure a permanent spot in the Phillies’ bullpen in each of the past two seasons due to his erratic pitching performance.
It just felt like he could never go more than two or three outings without giving up a run. In the end, Marte posted a gaudy 5.79 ERA and 1.73 WHIP, giving up a whopping 42 earned runs including 11 home runs, with 32 walks and 61 strikeouts in 65 1/3 innings of work over 63 total appearances.
With Marte out of options heading into 2025, along with the rise of Orion Kerkering, deadline acquisition Tanner Banks and even an under-the-radar arm in José Ruiz this season, Marte has likely pitched himself out of a role for the upcoming year. Added to the fact that he is now likely gone for the rest of this season with a shoulder injury, we may have seen the last of him in a Phillies uniform.