Sometime in May, Ketel Marte stuck his head out of the dugout and was caught on camera having a lengthy, impassioned conversation. It was with his bat.
There was finger tapping to get the bat’s attention and pointing, as if to explain that he needed the bat to send a ball deep into left field.
Eye contact was intense. And then came a more heated moment.
MLB’s social team made sure to follow up on the video posted on May 19. And yep, Marte said he indeed was trying to motivate his bat.
“I was just trying to get hot. Get hot and hit a homer,” he said.
talk ✍️ to ✍️ your ✍️ bat ✍️
Ketel Marte has an unconventional way to speak hits into existence 😂
(📹: marcelaram08/TikTok) pic.twitter.com/FTu0OHEYAV
— MLB (@MLB) May 28, 2025
Did the bat talk back?
“The next day, yeah, ’cause I had two,” Marte said.
TikTok user @marcelaram08 posted the original video on May 19, saying it was from a Diamondbacks-Mets game. The D-backs played the Mets from May 5-7 and then the Dodgers at home from May 8-11.
Marte recorded a single hit in three games against the Mets but got hot in the Dodgers series, hitting three homers in the first two games of Los Angeles’ visit to Chase Field.
So whatever he said, it appears the strong communication got through.
Here’s the full video of D-backs 2B Ketel Marte talking to his bat
@marcelaram08 Ketel Marte had a conversation with his bat at the Dbacks game against the Mets. #ketelmarte #chasefield #dbacks #dbacksfan #MLB @Arizona Diamondbacks ♬ original sound – marcelaram08
