K. Marte: 'I want to ... win a Gold Glove'

Ketel Marte played Gold Glove-level defense in 2019, but the fact that he played multiple positions likely cost him a shot at walking away with the golden hardware.

Marte became the first player in Major League history to play 90-plus games in both the infield and outfield in the same season last year and as a result he did not end up as a Gold Glove finalist at either of his two primary positions -- center field and second base.

“I’m very open to playing all the positions that the manager and everyone wants me to play,” Marte said. “I feel comfortable moving around as much as I can. The one thing that would keep me playing one position is trying to win a Gold Glove. I made two errors in 150-something chances last year. I want to get out there and have a chance to win a Gold Glove.”

Marte provided D-backs manager Torey Lovullo with a lot of versatility last season, playing 46 games at multiple positions as Lovullo made in-game maneuvers to put his best defense on the field as games went on.

Marte came up through the Minors as a shortstop, but with Nick Ahmed and Chris Owings both in front of him in Arizona in 2017, he was shifted to second base.

Last season, following the departure of free agent A.J. Pollock, the D-backs asked him to play center field for the first time.

It was a seamless transition for him, and that, combined with his production at the plate -- he fell .0007 shy of the NL batting title and his 7.1 fWAR was third-best in the NL -- made it hard for Lovullo to take him out of the lineup.

Whether it was the heavy workload, or moving around from position to position, Marte suffered a stress reaction in his back and missed the final two weeks of the season.

After acquiring Starling Marte to play center this offseason, the D-backs plan to having Ketel Marte stay mainly at second, which they hope will limit the wear and tear on him.

“To be honest, I don’t really have a preference,” Marte said. “I feel like any position I play a full season at I have a chance to win a Gold Glove, whether that’s short, second or center field.”

Left fielder David Peralta, who won his first Gold Glove last year, thought Marte should have at least been a finalist in 2019.

“I was really surprised about that,” Peralta said. “He played such great defense in center field and then when he was playing second base, he made it to the All-Star Game as a second baseman. This year, it’s going to be better for him because he’s going to be concentrating on one position.”

I can see clearly now

Peralta was sporting glasses when he sat down for an interview following Friday’s intrasquad game. He said he tried some glasses in Thursday’s workout and didn’t like them, so he went to contacts on Friday and plans to stick with those.

Peralta has not used contacts or glasses in the past, but about a month ago he felt like he wasn’t seeing the ball quite as well.

“I can concentrate more and focus on the ball more,” he said.

Calhoun and S. Marte back

Outfielder Kole Calhoun, who tested positive for COVID-19 but said he was asymptomatic for the most part, made his first appearance at Summer Camp on Friday.

Calhoun was able to hit in the batting cage he has at his home, but is certainly behind his teammates who have been facing live pitching for a week.

“Everybody has been on the field for a week before me so you wouldn’t be human if you didn’t say you feel a little bit behind,” Calhoun said. “I know a lot of these guys aren’t too far into at-bats and stuff, but it’s going to be a couple of days before I can really get into some of these intrasquad games. So I feel like I’m a little behind the eight-ball a little bit. I don’t feel like I’m too far behind, but it’s getting in games as quickly as possible that’s going to make me feel like I’m ready to go.”

Starling Marte was back at camp after a three-day absence. Lovullo did not say why he had not been there.