Noelvi

Marte

Marte has started just three times in five contests to open the season, which is a bit perplexing considering how he finished last year as one of Cincinnati’s core offensive contributors. It’s notable that he’s in the lineup to face Pirates right-hander Bubba Chandler in this one. The 24-year-old former top prospect will continue splitting time with Will Benson, who is in left field on Tuesday night with Spencer Steer on the bench. The emergence of Sal Stewart and return of Eugenio Suárez has created a logjam for the Reds with Marte drawing the short straw for now.

Marte has now sat against both righties the Reds have faced this season, which is a bit confusing considering he had reverse splits last year. To start the year, it seems like Will Benson will be starting against right-handed pitchers, which makes it hard to roster Marte in shallower formats right now, especially considering the Reds are set to face right-handed starters in eight of their next nine games.

It’s kind of funny that after specifically taking issue with Marte’s troubles hitting against lefties last year, manager Terry Francona lifted him against a right-hander today. It was Will Benson stepping in, so that’s not a bad switch. Benson, though, should have been starting over Spencer Steer in the first place, and he went on to strike out anyway. Marte’s strikeouts today both came against Garrett Crochet, so they probably shouldn’t be held against him. Sal Stewart excepted, no one else in the Reds lineup did anything, either.

There was a little speculation that the Reds might send down Marte in order to open up time for others, but he’s set to return to his spot as the team’s everyday right fielder. The 15/1 K/BB this spring is ugly, but he’s hit .255 and slugged .569 with his four homers and four doubles. A 20/20 season is possible, though he hasn’t attempted a steal this spring after going 10-for-13 in his 90 major league games last year.

Marte’s homer off lefty Kolby Allard was a 109-foot rocket to left-center. Marte was bad against lefties last year and the Reds have made judgments about him because of it, but he shouldn’t have any playing time concerns initially. He’s slugging .600 with his three homers and four doubles this spring.

Francona seems committed to keeping TJ Friedl first and Elly De La Cruz third ahead of new cleanup man Eugenio Suárez. That means the No. 2 hitter pretty much has to be a righty. Marte is one, but he hit just .232/.288/.274 against lefties last season, compared to .275/.305/.516 against righties. There isn’t much reason to think that’s something that will stick going forward, but it might mean Marte hits fifth or sixth going forward. Sal Stewart seems like the best alternative to Marte, but it’ll probably take Francona some time to warm up to that idea. Matt McLain might get his old spot back if he has a nice spring.

Hays missed seven consecutive games to close out the regular season due to back spasms. The 30-year-old corner outfielder is back in left field and batting cleanup against lefty Blake Snell on Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium. Here’s the full lineup: TJ Friedl (CF), Noelvi Marte (RF), Miguel Andujar (DH), Hays (LF), Spencer Steer (1B), Elly De La Cruz (SS), Tyler Stephenson (C), Ke’Bryan Hayes (3B) and Matt McLain (2B).

Even though Marte tried to pace himself on Bryan Reynolds’ high fly to right in the ninth, he still got to the wall too early and left himself with little momentum for making a jumping catch. Fortunately, he was able to pull it off anyway, denying Reynolds’ 348-foot fly. He also knocked in the Reds’ first run of the game and scored their second in the fifth.

The second spot in the Cincinnati lineup just seems cursed this season; all five Reds to make more than a few starts there have considerably worse numbers batting second than they do hitting elsewhere (the other four being Matt McLain, Gavin Lux, Spencer Steer and Santiago Espinal). Marte is hitting .233 with 33 strikeouts in 24 games batting second and .286 with 44 strikeouts in his remaining 61 games. For the season, Reds No. 2 hitters have a .612 OPS, compared to .729 for their No. 9 hitters.

Marte had started each of the team’s last five games, so this appears to be just a routine night off for the dynamic 23-year-old. Will Benson will slide over to cover right field while Austin Hays will start in left field and bat third for the Reds against Cubs’ right-hander Colin Rea.