Starling Marte’s speed, in some instances, has created runs from thin air, while in other instances, it has made potential runs disappear. 

Through the first month-plus of the Mets’ 2022 season, their most exciting offensive addition has given and he has taken away. Ultimately, there is room for improvement in his baserunning. 

Entering the Mets’ game Wednesday night in Washington, Marte had stolen four bases. He also had been caught four times, the most in baseball — and only three players had been caught three times. Mets not named Marte had only been caught stealing twice. 

A season after he led Major League Baseball with 47 steals (and was thrown out just five times), Marte has started this campaign, well, slowly. Through his first 28 games last season with the Marlins, Marte had swiped six bags and had been caught once. 

“I know one thing: The pitchers are paying a lot of attention to him,” Mets manager Buck Showalter said. “Our guys want to be about [being] aggressive in the right situations. We’re going to get burned some of [the time], too.” 

Entering Wednesday, Marte had not attempted a steal in his past five games and had not successfully stolen a base in his previous 13 contests, a stretch in which he had been cut down on the bases twice. 

According to the manager and outfielder, Marte still has the green light whenever he wants. 

“I’m the one that’s deciding not to run on the basepaths right now,” Marte said through translator Alan Suriel. 

If the 33-year-old has slowed, he hasn’t slowed by much. According to Statcast data, Marte’s average sprint speed this season has been 28.2 feet per second, just a hair off his 28.4 feet-per-second mark from last season and still enough to post big steal totals. 

It is possible what might be applying the brakes to his attempts is a hesitancy due to the increased number of times he has been caught. 

On April 20, he took off for second base in the seventh inning while the Mets were down four to the Giants. There were runners on the corners and Francisco Lindor at the plate, but Marte made the third out at second and cut short a rally. After that loss, Marte said he had no regrets about the play and was just trying to make something happen. 

Since then, he had just one stolen base and three attempts heading into Wednesday. 

Marte said there were no physical ailments that have plagued him. He likely will keep running, and the Mets said they will keep the light on. 

“I don’t think we’ve shut him down all year,” Showalter said.