Alex Marte

Alexis DeJesus Marte Peguero

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 6' 0", Weight 168 lb.

• Born December 12, 1962 in Santiago, Santiago D.R.

BR Minors page

Biographical Information

Alex Marte stole over 400 bases in the minor leagues and spent part of 5 seasons in AAA, but did not make the majors. Not a slugger, he only had 7 home runs in 11 years. He twice led his league in steals and once led in hits and runs.

Marte made his debut in 1981, playing for the GCL Blue Jays (.293/.383/.344, 50 SB, 35 R in 49 G, only 4 CS) and Florence Blue Jays (.314/.386/.314 in 14 G, 5 SB, 3 CS). He easily led the Gulf Coast League in swipes, 12 ahead of Ken Kinnard, and just missed the top 10 in batting average. In 1982, he put up a .254/.345/.318 line for Florence and stole 47 bases in 53 attempts over 83 games. Despite his somewhat limited playing time, he was 5th in the South Atlantic League in steals.

With the 1983 Kinston Blue Jays, Alexis batted .257/.327/.303 and again pilfered 47 bases, this time being caught 13 times. He also had 13 outfield assists. He was 4th in the Carolina League in stolen bases, but had fewer than half the total of leader Lenny Dykstra. Drafted in the AA phase of the 1983 Rule V Draft, he moved to the Minnesota Twins chain in the off-season. Assigned to the Visalia Oaks, he produced at a .275/.329/.316 clip and stole a career-high 82 bases in 103 tries. He scored 80 runs and fielded .980 in the outfield (only .001 behind California League leader Reggie Montgomery). He was second in the league in steals, 7 behind pacesetter Keith Thrower.

Marte had his best season with the 1985 Orlando Twins, hitting .320/.390/.382 with 9 triples, 64 steals in 83 tries, 63 walks and 117 runs. He led the Southern League in hits (171, 15 ahead of runner-up Tony Walker), runs (12 more than #2 Stan Javier), stolen bases (just 3 ahead of Javier) and times caught stealing. He lost the batting average race to Bruce Fields by .003, settling for second. On June 25, he set the league record by stealing six bases in a game. He made the SL All-Star outfield alongside Jose Canseco and Mark Davidson.

In 1986, Marte played for both Orlando (.320/.387/.370, 42 SB, 12 CS in 70 G) and the Toledo Mud Hens (.202/.292/.234 in 36 G, 11 SB, 6 CS). Despite only spending about half the year with Orlando, he was 4th in the Southern League in steals, only 12 behind leader Gerald Young and also trailing Gary Thurman and Rusty McNealy. The next season, he was with Orlando (.262/.319/.344 in 50 G, 28 SB, 4 CS) and the Portland Beavers (.276/.370/.345 in 43 G). He was 5th in the SL in steals.

Alex joined the Texas Rangers organization for 1988. He split that year between the Charlotte Rangers (.280/.345/.371 in 34 G) and Oklahoma City 89ers (.254/.341/.311 in 39 G). His speed was fading, as he only stole 10 bases while being gunned down 12 times that year. In '89, he was with Charlotte (.197/.351/.197 in 22 G) and the Tulsa Drillers (.236/.344/.271 in 48 G), failing to reach AAA after seeing time there from 1986-1988. He spent his final two years with the Olmecas de Tabasco, hitting .320/.383/.388 with 8 steals in 12 tries in 28 games in 1990 and going 1 for 5 in 1991.

Overall, Marte batted .279/.352/.332 and stole 415 bases in 528 tries (78.6% success rate) in 902 minor league games.

Sources

• 1982-1985 Baseball Guides
• 1986-1987 Baseball America Statistics Reports
• MILB.com
• The Mexican League: Comprehensive Player Statistics by Pedro Treto Cisneros