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SF Giants Player Review 2026: Yunior Marte showed enough promise to stick around

He could play a big role in the coming years.
ByNick San Miguel
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San Francisco, California, USA; San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Yunior Marte (87) reacts while walking to the dugout after the third out of the fourth inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks in his MLB debut at Oracle Park. Mandatory Credit: Robert Edwards-Imagn Images
San Francisco, California, USA; San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Yunior Marte (87) reacts while walking to the dugout after the third out of the fourth inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks in his MLB debut at Oracle Park. Mandatory Credit: Robert Edwards-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The SF Giants had to dig deep this season to simply have enough arms to make it through the year. With all of the injuries they had and all of the pitchers who got traded away they were forced to turn to guys many fans hadn’t heard of at the start of the year and one of them was right-handed pitcher Yunior Marte.

Acquired in the Mike Yastrzemski trade with the Kansas City Royals back in 2025, Marte progressed through the minors this season and even though he didn’t put up dominant numbers, he did enough for the Giants to call him up straight from Double-A Richmond. 

In the minors, Marte had a 3.85 ERA in 107 and 2/3 innings if one combines his stats with the High-A Eugene Emeralds and the Flying Squirrels. He struck out 113 batters and walked 41 so while on its face it could seem like an overly aggressive promotion, it was borne of the fact that there were so many injuries and that Marte would have been eligible for the Rule 5 draft after the season. Adding him to the 40-man roster protects him from another team poaching him even though there are no guarantees there will be a Rule 5 draft given the uncertainty brought about by the lockout.

Nonetheless, he got called up and he pitched quite well in his first career MLB outing. He allowed just one earned run in 4 and 2/3 innings against the Arizona Diamondbacks and it was made more special by the fact that Juan Marichal was in attendance for the jersey retirement of Jeff Kent so he got to pitch in front of an icon from his native Dominican Republic. 

Marte will be part of Giants' starting depth going forward

His overall numbers in the big leagues were decent as he had a 4.44 ERA in five outings and 24 and 1/3 innings pitched. He struck out 15 batters, walked five, and gave up five home runs. In all that’s not awful for a rookie and it was enough that he might factor into the equation next season.

The Giants will probably sign at least a starter or two in free agency, but if the injury bug visits the Giants again then they will have to turn to the same crop of arms they relied on towards the end of 2026.

Marte, Matt Wilkinson, Cesar Perdomo, and Anthony Molina will all be important depth pieces for the team so expect to see more of Marte going forward even if he may not be thought of as a future fixture of the rotation right now. 

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