The Cincinnati Reds have Monday off when it comes to playing a game, but the team announced that they had optioned outfielder Noelvi Marte to Triple-A Louisville this morning. The move was retroactive to post-game on Sunday. There was no corresponding move officially announced, which will probably become official on Tuesday before the series begins against the San Francisco Giants at Great American Ball Park.
Update: C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic is reporting that the Reds will be calling up Rece Hinds from Triple-A.
Noelvi Marte has struggled to get his bat going this season. He hasn’t been used in the most consistent manner thus far, being put in spots where his splits suggest he would struggle and then not used in some situations where his splits suggest that he would have more success. Still, he’s just not gotten it done. In his 11 games he’s gone 4-29 with no extra-base hits and just two walks. He’s hitting just .138/.194/.138 on the season. On Sunday he was doubled off at third base on a line drive in what was another example of him not quite knowing the situation on the field and being burned by it. For now he’ll head back to the minor leagues and try to get things going right at the plate and hopefully put more emphasis on game situations and scenarios.
The outfield in Louisville is full of players who have been hitting well for the Bats to begin the season. And all of the guys are on the 40-man roster. But it appears that the team is going to bring up Rece Hinds.
Hinds is out to the best start among the group of Louisville outfielders, and really among just about anyone in all of minor league baseball. He’s played in 13 games and has nine extra-base hits, 16 runs batted in, 12 walks, and 15 strikeouts in 61 plate appearances. During the start of this season he’s hit .354/.475/.771 with five home runs. He’s been splitting time between right field and center.
He’s had multiple hits in six of his 13 games. He’s only failed to get a hit in two games this season and in both of those games he still got on base via a walk. Hinds has walked in 10 of his 13 games. Triple-A pitching is not big league pitching, but right now he’s showing more patience and plate discipline than he has in the past at this level. That’s something that has been a problem when he’s been in the big leagues in the past during his limited opportunities.
Hinds had arguably the hottest spring at the plate with the exception of Matt McLain among the Reds players. He hit .410/.465/.949 but the team wanted him to play every day and that opportunity wasn’t available for him at the start of the season so he was sent to Louisville so he could do that. He carried his hot-hitting into the regular season and now two-and-a-half weeks later he might be getting that opportunity to land in the lineup regularly to see if he’s made the adjustments needed to find more consistent success at the plate at the highest level.
You can see the career stats for Rece Hinds here.