Starling Marté said Sunday that he's ready to make amends for the “mistake” that led to the 80-game suspension that left the Pirates short-handed for nearly three months.
Marté met with reporters in the home clubhouse of LECOM Park prior to his first rehab start with high Class A Bradenton, and spoke publicly for the first time about testing positive for Nandrolone, a steroid he said was consumed without his knowledge. The only Pittsburgh media made aware before Sunday that Marte would be speaking was Root Sports, the Pirates' TV rights-holder.
"It was an error. It was something that was a mistake I made," Marté said through interpreter Hector Morales, the Pirates' mental conditioning coordinator. "Just thinking there’s always something that can help. To move forward, I’m always trying to be better. But it’s a mistake. I made that mistake, and I just want to move forward and continue to help my team."
Marté can appear in minor-league games for 15 days leading up to when he is eligible to be reinstated on July 18. Clint Hurdle told reporters Sunday at PNC Park that the two-time Gold Glove winner will return to left field, and that Marté will join Triple-A Indianapolis sometime this week.
Before he prepares for that return, though, Marté was able to tell his side of the story. He said the positive test likely came from a product he purchased that he did not know contained Nandrolone, and he did not consult with the Pirates before ingesting it.
Two weeks before the season, Marté was informed he had tested positive and was facing a suspension. He then batted .241 in 13 games before Major League Baseball announced the positive test for the substance, an old-school anabolic steroid that is usually injected, but can be found in other substances that are administered orally.
The Pirates, however, were not notified of the positive test until it was announced on April 18. Per the Collective Bargaining Agreement, a player is not required to notify the club of a positive test until the appeals process is exhausted and a suspension is handed down.
Neal Huntington said the Pirates are "respectful" of that rule, but that didn't leave the club much time to fill the void.
Marté was promptly suspended and is now ineligible for the playoffs, if the Pirates qualify. The club quickly recalled José Osuna for an additional outfielder, shifted Adam Frazier to the outfield and returned Andrew McCutchen to center.
The impact of the suspension shook Marté when he was on the field for the Pirates.
"When you have issues and when you’re thinking about something, it does impact the way your mind stays focused," he said. "I’m not going to say 100 percent that my performance was impacted by that, but at the time, I was worried. I had all of these things in the back of my mind."
As the Pirates struggled over the past 10 weeks, Marté was quietly preparing for his return. Working out in Bradenton, Marté was hitting off a pitching machine that simulates spin and with velocity over 95 miles per hour. He ran through game situations in extended spring training, including stealing bases and bunting for a base hit.
That ended, though, when the Gulf Coast League schedule began on June 26.
His workload will gradually increase over the next two weeks, but that preparation goes far beyond baseball. Marté said he learned from his mistake. Grew from it, even. He said teammates were supportive once news broke of the positive test, and he hopes to move forward.
The Pirates are impressed by his reaction to the suspension. Marté has gone through numerous two-a-day workouts over the past week, and now the plan is to get him acclimated at game speed.
"In our interactions with him — Clint has talked with him, our staff —as we’ve been preparing to get him back out and get him in game activity again to get him closer to coming back and helping this club, we have a young man who recognizes he has work to do," Huntington said. "He recognizes that he’s put himself in this situation and he needs to earn people’s trust and respect back again, but I think we are also getting a man who is driven to come back in with this club, fold himself back in, earn his way back in and help this club win games."
Upon his return, the Pirates will add one of the game's top outfielders and a career .288 hitter to a lineup in need of a jolt. It will enable David Freese or Frazier to take on a bench role and it comes at an opportune time — five games after the All-Star break. Marté can return July 18 when the Pirates host the Brewers at PNC Park.
The Pirates are within striking distance of the first-place Brewers, but they know much is to be done to maintain that standing.
Marté also knows he has work to do to return to form, though that may never repair his image among fans or fellow players. He hopes that time, and effort, can help heal those wounds.
"There is always a smidgen in your mind of what people are thinking and how your teammates are thinking," he said. "At this moment, it’s not something that I can control. I just learn from it, and assume responsibility from it, and the only thing I can do from this moment forward is earn their trust back, and contribute to my team."