Farmers Only - Noelvi Marte homers twice in Cincinnati Reds farm debut

It’s become pertinent that you familiarize yourself with the entirety of the Seattle Mariners organizational history over the last half-decade, seeing as the Cincinnati Reds have poached half their former farm while trading them big-league talent all year. The most recent example, of course, was the deal that sent ace Luis Castillo to Seattle just before the August 2nd deadline, something that already paid off well for the Mariners as Luis posted 6.2 rock-solid innings for them yesterday in their win over the New York Yankees in Yankee Stadium.

The biggest piece the Reds got in return for Castillo was Noelvi Marte, a shortstop now in a sea of shortstops within the Reds organization. His farm debut with High-A Dayton was yesterday, too, and while Castillo was spinning a gem in the bigs, Marte was socking homers a-plenty for the Dragons - two of them, in fact.

Now for more on Marte and the rest of the Cincinnati farm from Wednesday’s action...

Indianapolis Indians 4, Louisville Bats 3 (F/7) (AAA)

Louisville Bats 9, Indianapolis Indians 6 (F/7) (AAA)

Justin “Big Donkey” Dunn allowed 3 ER in 5.0 IP in the first game of the doubleheader between Louisville and Indianapolis on Wednesday, and after the trades that gashed the big league roster (and the call-ups that followed), there’s basically nothing else in these box scores that really moves my needle. The 2024-2025 Reds, though, are gonna be something! Also, change your mascot, Indianapolis.

Chattanooga Lookouts 9, Birmingham Barons 3 (AA)

Ah, prospects! A box score with some real prospects! Matt “Yippy Ki Yay” McLain socked his 13th homer of the season, Mike Siani tripled, and Allan “Sleeper Sofa” Cerda went nuts with a 4 for 4 night that featured a double, two runs scored, and a pair of ribbies as Chattanooga romped. Elly “3 Feet High and Rising” De La Cruz walked, which is always cool, while TJ “i” Hopkins socked a pair of doubles and walked, too. Meanwhile, Levi “Coffee” Stoudt - another key piece in the Seattle trade - fired 5.0 innings of 2 H, 0 ER ball, fanning 6 with nary a walk in a brilliant debut, too. TRADERADE!

Dayton Dragons 14, Peoria Chiefs 5 (High-A)

Ah, Noelvi “Vendetta” Marte, how fond of you we’ve quickly become. The new top prospect in the Reds system (per MLB Pipeline) mauled a breaking ball for his first homer of the day and a meaty fastball for his second, driving in 4 runs on the night. The Dragons got a pile more runs thanks to homers by Garrett “Wall Street” Wolforth and Austin “Fox in the” Hendrick, too, with the former 1st round pick of the Reds posting an overall awesome 2 for 3 night with a pair of walks, too. Jose Torres went 2 for 5 with a steal and a run scored, while Brian Rey had a ho-hum 4 for 5 night. Christian Roa got the start and allowed 3 ER in 5.0 IP, walking 6 against nary a K in a line that’ll have me scratching my head for a bit.

St. Lucie Mets 5, Daytona Tortugas 1 (Class-A)

The Tugies mustered just 3 hits on the night, none of which were of the extra-base variety. Wendell Marrero walked twice, which was cool, while Jay Allen scored a run despite getting nary a hit nor walk. Starter Javi “Buick” Rivera fired 5.0 IP of 1 ER ball, which was cool, and given that he’s going to be 23 in November and has ripped up FSL hitting so far this year, it’s high time he was a Dayton Dragon, I say.