Noelvi Marte homers again, raises Triple-A average to .391

Noelvi Marte kept turning Triple-A pitching into a problem, homering again and pushing his Louisville line to .391, a mark that ranks second among all of Minor League Baseball hitters. In the International League, he has been even more imposing on the official leaderboard, where MiLB lists him first at .378 with 42 hits in 111 at-bats, five home runs and 18 RBI for the Louisville Bats.

That kind of production is exactly why Marte’s time in Louisville is starting to look like a temporary stop rather than a destination. The 24-year-old right-handed hitter from Cotuí, Dominican Republic, was optioned back to Louisville on April 15 after a brief return to Cincinnati. He had begun the 2026 season with the Reds, was recalled from Louisville on April 8, made his season debut on April 9, and then was sent back down after the club decided it needed more from him than his major league stint was providing.

Since returning to Triple-A, Marte has looked far more comfortable and far more dangerous. On May 16, he went 3-for-4 with a grand slam, a swing that underlined how quickly he can change a game when he is locked in. The next day, in Louisville’s doubleheader split with Indianapolis in Indianapolis, Indiana, he added four more hits, including another home run, and drove the ball with the kind of authority that puts a player back on a major league radar in a hurry.

Louisville manager Pat Kelly said Marte has changed his approach, showing better balance at the plate while also playing harder defensively and on the bases. That matters because Marte is no longer just padding a stat line. He is showing the Reds a more complete version of himself, one that looks calmer in the box, more controlled in his movements and more willing to impact the game beyond the bat.

The background only sharpens the story. Marte was signed by the Seattle Mariners and acquired by Cincinnati in the July 29, 2022 Luis Castillo trade. He also served an 80-game suspension in 2024 under Major League Baseball’s Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program. Now, with another home run added on May 20, he is building a case that is getting harder for Cincinnati to ignore. This is no longer just a hot streak in Louisville. It is a player forcing the Reds toward a decision.