CINCINNATI — Cincinnati Reds third baseman Noelvi Marte went 0-for-4 on Sunday for Triple-A Louisville, dropping his average down to .143 since he started his rehab assignment earlier this month.
Marte finished the 2023 season in the big leagues on a 16-game hitting streak for the Reds. The 22-year-old was penciled in as the team’s expected everyday third baseman to start the season, but during spring training he was suspended 80 games following a positive test for a performance-enhancing drug. He is eligible to return to the big leagues for Thursday’s game in St. Louis, the Reds’ 81st game of the season.
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But with just seven hits, 14 strikeouts and no walks in 11 games and 49 at-bats, will Marte be called up Wednesday?
Reds manager David Bell was asked on Friday about Marte’s struggles and said he didn’t know Marte’s statistics. Bell said he’s read the internal reports daily, but those aren’t focused on the results of at-bats.
“I don’t know where he stands statistically, but it’s more important what our player development people are saying, what they’re seeing,” Bell said. “We get process grades on every at-bat he has. Reading those, everything has been right on track.”
Those grades have nothing to do with the result of the at-bat, instead focusing on his swing decisions, pitch recognition and what kind of contact is made, including exit velocity.
Bell said that not only have the reports been good, but Marte has looked good physically.
“He’s doing his part to get himself ready,” Bell said. “No decision has been made yet. I know that’s coming up. He’s almost all the way through this, but over the next week we’ll be talking about that, but everything looks good so far.”
Marte doubled in his first at-bat of his rehab assignment on June 11 and finished with two hits in that game and one each in the next two. That double has been his only extra-base hit, with each of the next six hits going for singles. His last hit came on Wednesday. He’s gone 0-for-18 with six strikeouts over his past four games. He has not walked during his rehab assignment.
Defensively, he’s started seven games at third base, two as a DH and one each at second base and shortstop.
Lodolo battled blisters, umpire
For the first time since May 11, the Reds lost a game lefty Nick Lodolo started, falling 7-4 to the Boston Red Sox on Sunday.
Lodolo gave up four runs (three earned) over 4 2/3 innings, his shortest outing of the season. All four runs came in the fourth inning, the first two on a Connor Wong home run. That homer was on the first pitch of the at-bat after Lodolo walked Rafael Devers on a full count. The fourth ball was a strike according to Statcast. The pitch was in a nearly identical spot as a full-count fastball to Rob Refsnyder that was called a ball by home plate umpire Todd Tichenor. All four of Lodolo’s season-high four walks came with a full count, and three of the four were strikes according to Statcast.
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Lodolo’s breaking ball is his best pitch, but each walk ended with a fastball.
“Up to that point, there hadn’t been any damage on any fastballs at all,” Lodolo said after the game.
After Lodolo spoke, Bell told reporters that Lodolo was dealing with a blister on his left index finger that hurt his ability to throw his breaking ball.
Following Bell’s remarks, Lodolo said he wasn’t able to get a good feel for the pitch because of the blister, which popped up in his previous start.
Lodolo said he didn’t mention the blister because he didn’t want to make excuses for his outing. Bell, though, credited him with pitching through it.
Lodolo dealt with blisters as a minor leaguer, limiting him to 13 starts in 2021, but said the new blister doesn’t feel the same as that one.
He threw a total of 21 breaking balls among his 77 pitches (27 percent), which is more or less the same as his season-long percentage (27.9 percent). Though he usually gets swings-and-misses on 45.2 percent of his breaking balls, he had two on six swings Sunday (33 percent).
Bell ties Sparky
Bell’s ejection in the fourth inning of Sunday’s game was the 30th of his managerial career, tying the club record set by Sparky Anderson.
Anderson was ejected a total of 56 times in his managerial career, 30 times in 1,450 games with the Reds and 26 times in 2,580 games with the Detroit Tigers. Sunday was Bell’s 785th game as the Reds manager.
After a few close pitches by Nick Lodolo were called balls, David Bell was ejected for the 30th time in his career.
He is now tied with Sparky Anderson for the most ejections by a manager in Reds history. pic.twitter.com/X9hFkNXaJ9
— Bally Sports Cincinnati (@BallySportsCIN) June 23, 2024
Bell is still second in his own family in ejections behind his father Buddy Bell, who was ejected 42 times in his nine years as a manager with Detroit, Colorado and Kansas City.
There have been six father-son managerial pairs in Major League Baseball history and the Bells lead the Boones in ejections by 27. Bob Boone was ejected eight times in his career, while Aaron Boone was ejected for the 37th time in his career on Saturday. Felipe Alou (18) and Luis Rojas (five) are second with 23, followed by George (three) and Dick (two) Sisler, Connie (one) and Earle (one) Mack and Bob (one) and Joel (zero) Skinner.
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Bobby Cox leads all managers with 162 ejections. John McGraw (121) and Leo Durocher (100) are the only other managers in the game’s history with more than 100. Bruce Bochy (84) leads all active managers, followed by Bob Melvin (62) and then Boone and Bud Black (37) are tied for third. Bell and Craig Counsell are tied for fifth with 30.
David Bell’s 30 are more than Frank Robinson (29), Jim Riggleman (28) and Dusty Baker (26).
Aaron Boone has been ejected once every 25.7 games, while David Bell’s rate is once every 26.1 games, although Sunday was his second this week after being ejected in Pittsburgh.
‘Say Hey’
David Bell doesn’t remember specific stories his grandfather, former Reds center fielder Gus Bell, told of the players he played with and against, but he does remember how his grandfather felt about players just based on the way he’d react when their name was mentioned.
Gus Bell played in the big leagues from 1950 to 1964, all in the National League. That, of course, overlapped with the career of Willie Mays. The two were even All-Star teammates three times.
“There were players that my grandpa played with and against and without him saying very much, I knew the respect one way or another and Willie was always at the top of that,” David Bell said Friday. “He had just complete respect in every way for Willie. I don’t remember specific stores, but I just remember that feeling of, ‘Wow, he really thought highly of this guy.’”
When David Bell played for the Giants in 2002, he said Mays was in the clubhouse most days. When Bell served as the Giants’ vice president of player development in 2018, he had Mays speak to the team’s minor leaguers.
“I was like one of the kids listening to him,” Bell said. “Hearing the stories. Barry (Bonds) was there as well. It was a special time. I spent a lot of time thinking about that day.”
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The week that was
The Reds dropped a pair of three-game series, winning a single game both at Pittsburgh and at home against Boston. The Reds started the week eight games behind the Brewers in the National League Central, but despite going 2-4 on the week, they are just 8 1/2 games behind the Brewers.
The week ahead
The Reds face off against the Pirates again, but won’t face Pittsburgh rookie Paul Skenes, who pitched Sunday. After three games against the Pirates at Great American Ball Park, the Reds head to St. Louis for four games against the Cardinals.
Injury updates
• RHP Emilio Pagán (right lat strain) is scheduled to have more imaging done on Monday to check his progress.
• RHP Ian Gibaut (right forearm strain) is expected to see a doctor soon to have his grip strength tested to see if he can begin throwing.
Minor league roundup
• Triple-A Louisville (38-36): OF Blake Dunn, who was hit in the head by a 101.4 mph fastball while with the Reds earlier this month, was put on the injured list in Louisville after getting hit in the head in Saturday’s game. That pitch was “only” 93.4 mph, but he suffered a laceration near his eye.
• Double-A Chattanooga (20-49): OF Austin Hendrick, the team’s first-round pick in the 2020 draft, has gotten hot in June. Hendrick has hits in 13 of his 18 games this month, including six of his past seven. He’s been on base in each of the past 14 games. In those 18 games this month, he’s hitting .269/.319/.388 with two homers. He’s still walked just four times with 26 strikeouts in that time and 14 of his 18 hits have been singles.
• High-A Dayton (34-35): OF Hector Rodriguez saw his 12-game hitting streak end Thursday and then was hitless in each of the past three games. This season he’s hitting .298/.335/.426 with 13 doubles, three triples and five homers.
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• Low-A Daytona (32-36): Adam Serwinowski started Thursday’s game with an immaculate inning — three strikeouts on nine pitches. The lefty struck out seven batters in his four scoreless innings, allowing a hit and a walk. Tortugas pitchers struck out 17 batters in the 11-inning, 2-0 loss. Serwinowski, 20, is 1-1 with a 2.59 ERA in 13 starts. He’s struck out 50 batters and walked 24 in 48 2/3 innings.
• Rookie Arizona (19-18): C Eddy Isturiz was 2-for-2 Saturday with a walk. He’d walked in four straight games and 11 of 13 games in June. Overall he’s hitting .259/.452/.370 this season with 18 walks in 20 games. In June, his OBP is .550.
(Photo of Noelvi Marte from spring training: Kareem Elgazzar / The Enquirer / USA Today Network)
