GOODYEAR, Ariz. — In Noelvi Marté’s first start in the big leagues, he wore a shin guard and elbow guard with splashes of yellow. They were small parts of the whole, but because the color is nowhere in the Cincinnati Reds’ palette, it popped.
Marté, the centerpiece of the previous season’s trade of ace Luis Castillo to the Seattle Mariners, popped as well. He made his debut as a pinch-runner and promptly stole third base, showing the fearlessness that Reds scouts saw when the team was negotiating with the Mariners.
The very next day, Marté was in the team’s lineup and had a hustle double for his first big-league hit. Although the third baseman had just six hits over his first 11 games, he’d finish the season on a tear, including a 16-game hitting streak to finish the season in addition to a defensive performance that belied his experience at his relatively new position.
On a team of burgeoning stars, Marté was immediately part of the group of rookie infielders that looked like they could make up the next great Reds team, with Marté at third, Christian Encarnacion-Strand at first, Matt McLain playing second and, of course, Elly De La Cruz at shortstop.
When Marté showed up for spring training last February, he was fully decked out with yellow shoes, bright yellow shin and elbow guards, matching yellow batting gloves and all the rest. Another bright, young star, ready to show the world that he could stand toe-to-toe with his fellow rookies.
And then it fell apart.
First Marté was suspended for 80 games for violating the league’s policy against performance-enhancing drugs, and when he returned, he wasn’t the same player he’d been before.
After an abbreviated stint with Triple-A Louisville leading up to the completion of his suspension, Marté debuted for the Reds on June 27 in St. Louis. Decked out in red-and-black Air Jordan 1s and an yellow arm sleeve on left arm to match the rest of his yellow gear, Marté doubled in a run in his second at-bat, giving the Reds’ a 3-0 lead against Cardinals starter Miles Mikolas. He’d notch singles in each of his next two plate appearances, as the Reds beat the Cardinals.
After his three-hit debut, he managed just three more hits in his next 11 games. Marté finished the year hitting a disappointing .210/.248/.301 with four homers in 229 plate appearances. He also accumulated 12 errors at third base in just 55 games in the field.
While De La Cruz came to spring training in Arizona this year on the cover of “MLB The Show,” Marté slipped in with little fanfare or even expectations. During spring, Marté wore plain white cleats and batting gloves, with solid red shin and elbow guards.
“This year, I feel like I’m not gonna wear (yellow) as much. Maybe we’ll do it one or two days here and there,” Marté said earlier this spring, according to interpreter Jorge Merlos. “I just want to be in that bubble where I don’t make it a distraction.”
After the disaster that was 2024, Marté said he’s concentrating on himself, trying to get back to where he was in 2023, wiping the entire 2024 from his memory — taking the lessons he learned, but moving on.
“I’m just very happy that I can turn that page and after like I’m back to what I was beforehand before all of last year,” Marté said, according to Merlos. “I feel confident in myself.”
Although Marté came to Goodyear in improved shape and with a new attitude, he still struggled in his limited Cactus League appearances. No longer the presumed starter at third, he found himself behind Jeimer Candelario, Christian Encarnacion-Strand, Gavin Lux and Cooper Bowman for reps at third base, more often than not working alongside a pair of 21-year-olds who had yet to see Double-A in Cam Collier and Sal Stewart on a practice field with other players in camp who weren’t expected to make the Opening Day roster.
Monday, the Reds optioned him to Triple-A Louisville, where he is expected to start the season.
“It’s just getting him back to where he was two years ago in terms of his footwork on defense and his game across the board,” said Nick Krall, the team’s president of baseball operations, on Monday. “We still think he has a chance to be a solid big leaguer and we’re just trying to get him back to where he was two years ago.”
It’s not hard to imagine Marté back in that spot. He still has the size and talent to be as good as any third baseman in baseball. He has a track record of success at every level he’s reached. Marté was seen as a future shortstop when he was coming through the Mariners’ system and he still has the ability to play the game’s most demanding non-catcher defensive position.
As much as anything, it’s about finding that confidence he had. This offseason was the start of it. Marté trained hard, took his nutrition seriously, played a little in the Dominican Winter League and prepared himself for the season ahead with no expectations, just a concentration on the mission ahead.
“I feel like I have been just prepared as much as I could be to come back and do as much as I can,” Marté said, according to Merlos. “I have so much more confidence than I did last year. … I feel like I can overcome (2024’s disappointments) and learn from everything that happened last year and move forward with what I need to do this year. I know that I’m gonna have a very good season coming up this year.”
Those goals aren’t diminished by where he starts Opening Day, he noted. It’s what he does at the conclusion of the 2025 season. Before March 8, 2024, it looked like 2024 would be his year, then everything changed. The 2025 season won’t be defined for Marté or the Reds by what happens in March.
“I know the talent that I have and I’m willing to play wherever it is — it doesn’t matter what position, what level,” Marté said via Merlos. “I’m just a little grain of sand that is able to help out this sort of team in general, because we know where we want to end up at the end of the road and that’s the World Series. I know where I stand. I know how well I can compete. It’s just helping out these other guys get to where we need to be.”
Where Marté needs to be now and at the beginning of the season is with the Triple-A team, regaining that confidence and proving himself to the Reds, fans and ultimately himself.
“I just have to see the day-by-day work,” Marté said, according to Merlos. “Whatever happened that day, happened. And the next day, we’ll get there and leave everything that happened in the past.”
Required reading
(Photo: Justin Berl / Getty Images)
