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DENVER — Maybe 10 minor-league games and a fresh start was all it took for Noelvi Marte to rediscover focus and priorities, and to become an everyday big-league player who can help the Cincinnati Reds win?
There’s a long way to go before that last part can be answered. But the young infielder whose 2024 season was lost to a first-half steroid suspension and a second-half performance abyss has quietly played his way into a regular role in manager Terry Francona’s lineup as the team opens a three-game series in Colorado this weekend.
If he keeps it up, he could be the addition to the lineup that nobody projected, if not the answer to the team’s sizable third-base conundrum.
“He’s been very good,” Francona said. “When he’s covering right-center (while hitting), when he sets his sights that way, he’s quick enough where he can get to the ball in.”
Like he did on the home run he hit Tuesday in Miami.
Reds Rockies Austin Wynns Wynns win for Cincinnati Reds: Backup catcher keeps hitting, making case for long-term job
Reds starting rotation Brady Singer It's not how Cincinnati Reds start, it's how their pitching staff finishes
Reds Bristol Speedway Tim McGraw How to get tickets for Reds-Braves (and Tim McGraw) at the MLB Speedway Classic
Marte, who was among the Reds’ exciting group of rookies who debuted in 2023, said his recent success is mostly about confidence.
“I got it back, and I go out and compete every day,” he said in Spanish (via interpreter/assistant trainer Tomas Vera).
“It feels good,” he said. “I believe the work I’ve been putting in and the consistency of what I’ve done is why (Francona) puts me in the field right now.”
He’s started five of the six games of the road trip so far, going 8-for-22 (.364) with five extra-base hits, including two homers, albeit five of the hits coming in the Reds’ 24-2 BP special last weekend against the Orioles.
He’s hitting .310 overall since being recalled when Matt McLain went on the injured list April 9, earning an extended stay when McLain returned.
It’s been an unexpected lift for a team that got less production out of third base than any other team last year and that’s getting just .118 hitting (.207 on-base percentage) from the guy who has played most there so far, veteran Jeimer Candelario.
Marte, 23, said he worked on “little things” after getting cut from big-league camp this spring and looks more prepared these days than he did much of the second half last year.
“I saw results (in the work),” he said. “And thank God I’m here.”
Maybe to stay this time around?
He broke into a smile: “Sí.”
“I want to be careful (because) when we talk about ‘celebrating,’ we’re celebrating treating people equal. That’s humiliating – the fact that we even have to do it, we should be ashamed of ourselves. What he endured and the guts and all of that, that’s what I hope we think about today. But when you think about it, it’s kind of humiliating that we have to, that we were there. So I hope we just remember the right things.”
– Francona on Jackie Robinson Day.
The Reds catching tandem of Jose Trevino (.308, one homer) and Austin Wynns (13-for-26, three homers) are hitting .372 with a .615 slugging percentage in 78 combined at-bats this season, entering the weekend series in Colorado.
“Our catchers can really hit. This is awesome,” pitcher Brady Singer said.
Trevino and Wynns are neck and neck at the top of the MLB leaderboard with the Cubs’ catching corps in offensive production four weeks into the season – and one of the better hitting catchers in the league, Tyler Stephenson (oblique), won’t make his season debut until sometime next week at the earliest.
The rest of the Reds were hitting .228 with a combined .358 slugging percentage.
“What these two guys have done has been above and beyond,” Francona said.
Just when you think Elly De La Cruz is cooling off and not impacting games, he does something like he did in the eighth inning of a one-run game in Miami on Wednesday – scoring from third on a sharply hit grounder to a drawn-in second baseman, who made a good, quick throw to the plate.
A replay challenge confirmed that De La Cruz – who had stolen second and advanced to third on a grounder – slid safely across the plate just ahead of the tag. Which should have been impossible.
“There’s two guys I think score on that in all of baseball,” Francona said. “The other one’s Mookie Betts. And there’s probably somebody else that I’m forgetting. But that’s pretty special, that play right there.”
That’s Jake Fraley’s OPS against the Seattle Mariners in nine career games against the team that traded him to the Reds, through his big 3-for-5 performance that included his second career grand slam during the finale of the Reds' recent home series against the M's.
His OPS against everyone else in the 399 other games in his career up to that point was .725.
Fraley is 10-for-30 (.333) against Seattle with four doubles, two home runs, a .429 on-base percentage and .667 slugging percentage – .246/.328/.397 against everyone else.
Fraley and pitcher Brandon Williamson were among four players sent to the Reds in the March 2022 deal that sent veterans Eugenio Suarez and Jesse Winker to the Mariners.
Speaking of errors, a scoring change this week that reversed a De La Cruz error on April 17 and credited Seattle’s Cal Raleigh with a hit meant that Singer was charged with an additional earned run.
Without throwing an additional pitch, his season ERA jumped from 3.38 to 3.80 ahead of Wednesday’s start in Miami.
Singer responded with one of his best outings of the season so far to beat the Marlins, at one point retiring 12 straight and not allowing a run after the first.
“Yeah, I’m not going to say too much on it,” said Singer (4-0), who lowered his official ERA to 3.62 – and real-time ERA to 3.29. “But it was a very weird scoring change.”
Lost in all the offensive franchise milestones the Reds racked up in Sunday’s 24-2 rout of the Orioles was – believe it or not – the bullpen’s only save between April 12 and Wednesday.
That’s because right-hander Randy Wynne, a non-roster invitee to spring training this year, pitched the final three innings (one run allowed) after a one-day emergency callup for a short-handed staff.
The Reds catcher that day Wynns, who tied a franchise record with six hits, called the outcome “the Wynne-Wynns Effect.”
Marte's game-tying solo home run in the third inning of Tuesday's tough loss in Miami tied the hardest-hit ball of the first four weeks of the season in the majors, according to Statcast: 116.7 mph.
The hardest-hit ball in the majors!
A hundred and sixteen point seven!
Skip!
“OK,” Francona said after pausing a beat.
"We got one run. That’s fine.”
According to some deep-dive reporting by ESPN, the pickleball craze sweeping America has specifically swept through MLB front offices and clubhouses from Los Angeles to Milwaukee to Texas to Boston.
Even Francona has tried it.
“Me and a buddy of mine went and played last winter because (I thought), you know what, I should try that,” Francona said. “So we went to these courts, and we started hitting it around, and there were these two young kids who were like, ‘Hey, let’s play.’ It’s hard not to be competitive.
“(Expletive), I couldn’t walk for two weeks,” Francona, 66, added.
Did he at least win?
“Hell no.”
Maybe he’d have been better off taking Jeimer Candelario’s approach to America’s popular new sport, as the infielder shared with ESPN:
“What’s pickleball?”
The latest word on the Los Angeles Dodgers’ plan for Shohei Ohtani’s 2025 pitching debut suggests it might be sometime close to the All-Star break, if not afterward.
And if it’s two weeks after that?
Mark your calendars. The Dodgers are in town for a three-game series starting July 28.
Reds fans (and Ohtani) might remember the Reds were the last team to face the superstar two-way player when he was on the mound for a big-league game, Aug. 23, 2023, in the first game of a doubleheader.
Spencer Steer drew a leadoff walk in the second, and Joey Votto popped up the next pitch to the shortstop.
Ohtani then left the game with an elbow injury that required Tommy John surgery, and he hasn’t pitched in an MLB game since.
Fraley became the first Reds player to hit a home run onto Eutaw Street behind the Camden Yards ballpark bleachers, albeit in just 11 Reds games played there since the ballpark opened in 1992 (one of 132 homers clear the right-field bleachers in park history).
His homer actually hit the classic Chevy pickup truck near Boog Powell’s barbecue stand, denting a fender.
“I was surprised. I knew it got out there to Eutaw street, but I didn’t know that it hit his truck and put a giant dent in it,” Fraley said, “which It sucks for him, but it’s a pretty cool thing to do.”
But you knew all that.
What you probably didn’t know is that Fraley was born in Frederick, Maryland, making him just the second Maryland native to hit one onto Eutaw. He joins Brady Anderson (Silver Springs, Maryland).
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Can Noelvi Marte be unexpected key for Cincinnati Reds? | Press Box Wag
Continue reading...
There’s a long way to go before that last part can be answered. But the young infielder whose 2024 season was lost to a first-half steroid suspension and a second-half performance abyss has quietly played his way into a regular role in manager Terry Francona’s lineup as the team opens a three-game series in Colorado this weekend.
If he keeps it up, he could be the addition to the lineup that nobody projected, if not the answer to the team’s sizable third-base conundrum.
You must be registered for see images attach
“He’s been very good,” Francona said. “When he’s covering right-center (while hitting), when he sets his sights that way, he’s quick enough where he can get to the ball in.”
Like he did on the home run he hit Tuesday in Miami.
Reds Rockies Austin Wynns Wynns win for Cincinnati Reds: Backup catcher keeps hitting, making case for long-term job
Reds starting rotation Brady Singer It's not how Cincinnati Reds start, it's how their pitching staff finishes
Reds Bristol Speedway Tim McGraw How to get tickets for Reds-Braves (and Tim McGraw) at the MLB Speedway Classic
Marte, who was among the Reds’ exciting group of rookies who debuted in 2023, said his recent success is mostly about confidence.
“I got it back, and I go out and compete every day,” he said in Spanish (via interpreter/assistant trainer Tomas Vera).
You must be registered for see images attach
“It feels good,” he said. “I believe the work I’ve been putting in and the consistency of what I’ve done is why (Francona) puts me in the field right now.”
He’s started five of the six games of the road trip so far, going 8-for-22 (.364) with five extra-base hits, including two homers, albeit five of the hits coming in the Reds’ 24-2 BP special last weekend against the Orioles.
He’s hitting .310 overall since being recalled when Matt McLain went on the injured list April 9, earning an extended stay when McLain returned.
You must be registered for see images attach
It’s been an unexpected lift for a team that got less production out of third base than any other team last year and that’s getting just .118 hitting (.207 on-base percentage) from the guy who has played most there so far, veteran Jeimer Candelario.
Marte, 23, said he worked on “little things” after getting cut from big-league camp this spring and looks more prepared these days than he did much of the second half last year.
“I saw results (in the work),” he said. “And thank God I’m here.”
Maybe to stay this time around?
He broke into a smile: “Sí.”
He said it
“I want to be careful (because) when we talk about ‘celebrating,’ we’re celebrating treating people equal. That’s humiliating – the fact that we even have to do it, we should be ashamed of ourselves. What he endured and the guts and all of that, that’s what I hope we think about today. But when you think about it, it’s kind of humiliating that we have to, that we were there. So I hope we just remember the right things.”
– Francona on Jackie Robinson Day.
Catch these hit messiahs if you can
The Reds catching tandem of Jose Trevino (.308, one homer) and Austin Wynns (13-for-26, three homers) are hitting .372 with a .615 slugging percentage in 78 combined at-bats this season, entering the weekend series in Colorado.
“Our catchers can really hit. This is awesome,” pitcher Brady Singer said.
Trevino and Wynns are neck and neck at the top of the MLB leaderboard with the Cubs’ catching corps in offensive production four weeks into the season – and one of the better hitting catchers in the league, Tyler Stephenson (oblique), won’t make his season debut until sometime next week at the earliest.
The rest of the Reds were hitting .228 with a combined .358 slugging percentage.
“What these two guys have done has been above and beyond,” Francona said.
Elly De La Cruz-ing. Again.
Just when you think Elly De La Cruz is cooling off and not impacting games, he does something like he did in the eighth inning of a one-run game in Miami on Wednesday – scoring from third on a sharply hit grounder to a drawn-in second baseman, who made a good, quick throw to the plate.
A replay challenge confirmed that De La Cruz – who had stolen second and advanced to third on a grounder – slid safely across the plate just ahead of the tag. Which should have been impossible.
“There’s two guys I think score on that in all of baseball,” Francona said. “The other one’s Mookie Betts. And there’s probably somebody else that I’m forgetting. But that’s pretty special, that play right there.”
The big number: 1.095
That’s Jake Fraley’s OPS against the Seattle Mariners in nine career games against the team that traded him to the Reds, through his big 3-for-5 performance that included his second career grand slam during the finale of the Reds' recent home series against the M's.
His OPS against everyone else in the 399 other games in his career up to that point was .725.
Fraley is 10-for-30 (.333) against Seattle with four doubles, two home runs, a .429 on-base percentage and .667 slugging percentage – .246/.328/.397 against everyone else.
Fraley and pitcher Brandon Williamson were among four players sent to the Reds in the March 2022 deal that sent veterans Eugenio Suarez and Jesse Winker to the Mariners.
You must be registered for see images attach
Tough note for Singer
Speaking of errors, a scoring change this week that reversed a De La Cruz error on April 17 and credited Seattle’s Cal Raleigh with a hit meant that Singer was charged with an additional earned run.
Without throwing an additional pitch, his season ERA jumped from 3.38 to 3.80 ahead of Wednesday’s start in Miami.
Singer responded with one of his best outings of the season so far to beat the Marlins, at one point retiring 12 straight and not allowing a run after the first.
“Yeah, I’m not going to say too much on it,” said Singer (4-0), who lowered his official ERA to 3.62 – and real-time ERA to 3.29. “But it was a very weird scoring change.”
Wynne-Wynns situation?
Lost in all the offensive franchise milestones the Reds racked up in Sunday’s 24-2 rout of the Orioles was – believe it or not – the bullpen’s only save between April 12 and Wednesday.
That’s because right-hander Randy Wynne, a non-roster invitee to spring training this year, pitched the final three innings (one run allowed) after a one-day emergency callup for a short-handed staff.
The Reds catcher that day Wynns, who tied a franchise record with six hits, called the outcome “the Wynne-Wynns Effect.”
There’s the exit (velo) – take it
Marte's game-tying solo home run in the third inning of Tuesday's tough loss in Miami tied the hardest-hit ball of the first four weeks of the season in the majors, according to Statcast: 116.7 mph.
The hardest-hit ball in the majors!
A hundred and sixteen point seven!
Skip!
“OK,” Francona said after pausing a beat.
"We got one run. That’s fine.”
Pickled
According to some deep-dive reporting by ESPN, the pickleball craze sweeping America has specifically swept through MLB front offices and clubhouses from Los Angeles to Milwaukee to Texas to Boston.
Even Francona has tried it.
“Me and a buddy of mine went and played last winter because (I thought), you know what, I should try that,” Francona said. “So we went to these courts, and we started hitting it around, and there were these two young kids who were like, ‘Hey, let’s play.’ It’s hard not to be competitive.
“(Expletive), I couldn’t walk for two weeks,” Francona, 66, added.
Did he at least win?
“Hell no.”
Maybe he’d have been better off taking Jeimer Candelario’s approach to America’s popular new sport, as the infielder shared with ESPN:
“What’s pickleball?”
Shohei Time? Save the date
The latest word on the Los Angeles Dodgers’ plan for Shohei Ohtani’s 2025 pitching debut suggests it might be sometime close to the All-Star break, if not afterward.
And if it’s two weeks after that?
Mark your calendars. The Dodgers are in town for a three-game series starting July 28.
Reds fans (and Ohtani) might remember the Reds were the last team to face the superstar two-way player when he was on the mound for a big-league game, Aug. 23, 2023, in the first game of a doubleheader.
Spencer Steer drew a leadoff walk in the second, and Joey Votto popped up the next pitch to the shortstop.
Ohtani then left the game with an elbow injury that required Tommy John surgery, and he hasn’t pitched in an MLB game since.
Did You Know
Fraley became the first Reds player to hit a home run onto Eutaw Street behind the Camden Yards ballpark bleachers, albeit in just 11 Reds games played there since the ballpark opened in 1992 (one of 132 homers clear the right-field bleachers in park history).
His homer actually hit the classic Chevy pickup truck near Boog Powell’s barbecue stand, denting a fender.
“I was surprised. I knew it got out there to Eutaw street, but I didn’t know that it hit his truck and put a giant dent in it,” Fraley said, “which It sucks for him, but it’s a pretty cool thing to do.”
But you knew all that.
What you probably didn’t know is that Fraley was born in Frederick, Maryland, making him just the second Maryland native to hit one onto Eutaw. He joins Brady Anderson (Silver Springs, Maryland).
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Can Noelvi Marte be unexpected key for Cincinnati Reds? | Press Box Wag
Continue reading...
