Arizona Diamondbacks All-Star Ketel Marte had his Scottsdale home burglarized on July 15, the same night he was representing the National League in the MLB All-Star Game in Atlanta.
According to Scottsdale police, the break-in was classified as a “high-dollar residential burglary”, with numerous personal items and jewelry stolen. No one was home during the incident, and investigators noted signs of forced entry. The timing of the crime, while Marte was away playing, mirrors a troubling trend targeting professional athletes.
Though Marte has not issued a formal public statement about the robbery, the incident adds to what has already been a deeply emotional season for the Dominican-born second baseman.
Just weeks earlier, during a game against the Chicago White Sox, Marte was brought to tears on the field after a fan shouted a cruel remark referencing his late mother, Elpidia Valdez, who died in a car accident in 2017.
“He said something like, ‘Last night I sent your mom a text,’” Marte revealed in a podcast interview. The comment hit especially hard, as Marte had been in Chicago when he first learned of his mother’s passing. “They always shout things at me but I don't pay attention, but when they talk about my mother, it's a different story,” he said.
Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo, who consoled Marte on the mound, described the moment as heartbreaking: “I could see he was sobbing. It hurt,” Lovullo said.
Marte’s burglary is part of a growing wave of thefts targeting high-profile athletes. In the last year, Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce had their Kansas City-area homes burglarized within 48 hours of each other. Joe Burrow’s Cincinnati home was broken into while he played Monday Night Football.
NBA stars Bobby Portis and Mike Conley Jr. also reported burglaries, with Portis offering a $40,000 reward for information.
WWE stars Becky Lynch and Seth Rollins lost $10,000 in cash during a break-in at their Los Angeles home.
The FBI has issued warnings to major sports leagues, citing organized theft groups—some international—who exploit athletes’ travel schedules and social media activity to target homes believed to contain luxury goods.
As these incidents mount, leagues like the NFL and NBA have urged players to upgrade home security and limit public sharing of personal details. For Ketel Marte, the robbery is a painful punctuation mark on a season already marked by grief and resilience.
