The Cincinnati Reds had three different prospects named their league’s Player of the Month for May by Minor League Baseball. Infielder Noelvi Marte got the nod for the Double-A Southern League, outfielder Hector Rodriguez got the nod in the Single-A Florida State League, and pitcher Julian Aguiar got the nod in the High-A Midwest League.
Noelvi Marte has been on fire since the final week of April and carried it right on into May. In 24 games played with the Chattanooga Lookouts and racked up 110 plate appearances while hitting .343/.409/.626. Marte had seven doubles, seven home runs, stole four bases, walked 10 times, struck out just 15 times, scored 22 runs, and he drove in 18 runs. He led the Southern League in average, hits, and home runs during the month, and was in the top five in slugging, OPS, doubles, and on-base percentage.
Hector Rodriguez was coming off of a tough start to his season in April, but he kicked things up about 10 levels when the calendar flipped to May. He would play in 23 games with the Daytona Tortugas and pick up at least one hit in 21 of them – ending the month on a 13 game hitting streak. Over the course of the month he hit .357/.394/.612 in 104 plate appearances with five doubles, four triples, four home runs, three stolen bases, 23 runs scored, and he drove in 14 runs. He would lead the Florida State League in hits, runs, triples, slugging percentage, and OPS. He finished the month second in the league in average.
Julian Aguiar had a nice set of four starts in April, but that month didn’t look nearly as good as what the right-handed starter did during May. Aguiar made four starts for Dayton during the month and allowed just one run. The righty threw 22.0 innings with a 0.41 ERA, allowed just seven hits, walked just three batters, struck out 23, and held hitters to a .099/.156/.099 line during the month.
From Athletic
Three players scouts liked this week
Noelvi Marte, Cincinnati Reds, SS/3B
Team: Double-A Chattanooga Lookouts
Age: 21
Stats: .293/.366/.484, 8 HR, 0.58 BB/K
Scout says: He’s got a chance to be really good. He’s a big, physical guy, 6-foot-3 or maybe 6-4. If he fills out, he’s going to be a man. He’s got a good approach and he can juice the ball. He’s got an open stance and he goes gap to gap. When you make a mistake, he can hurt you. These Southern League ballparks are fairly comfortable for hitters, but when he hits it, it doesn’t matter what ballpark he’s in. He’s not going to get a good time running out of the box because he’s got a big swing, but he can run underway. He’s playing shortstop a lot but probably going to transition to third full time — not because he can’t play short, but because they have Elly De La Cruz there. He’s got a plus arm and he’s going to be more than fine at third base. He’s a young kid and he loves to play. He’s got really good makeup. This kid is going to be good. I don’t think he’ll be a star, but he’ll be a really steady major-league player when it’s all said and done.
No more anticipation. EDLC has arrived in Cincinnati
Fantastic!!!!
Well deserved award for all three.
Noelvi Marte was #2 on my YE list but has dropped to #4 as of now. This is not because of his performance as much as it is the performance of Matt McLain and CES who have moved up to #2 and #3.
Hector Rodriguez was # 14 on my YE list. He has moved up to #11 now. Not much of a move but the top 11 is very good (6-10 are Abbott, Petty, Phillips, Jorge and Aguiar). He is more than ready to move to Dayton.
Julian Aguiar was #24 on my list at YE and has moved up to #10 on my list now. Doug omitted two stats that jump out at me and is why he jumped into my top 10.
1. GB% – Aguiar had a GB% of 67.3% for the month. The ML leader right now has a GB% of 61.1%. Only 7 pitchers have a GB% greater than 50%.
2. K%-BB% – Aguiar had a K%-BB% of 26% for the month. Only 2 ML pitchers have a K%-BB% that tops this (Strider 31.3%, Gausman 27%). Breaking it down further only 6 pitchers had a K% greater than Aguiar’s 29.9% and only 2 pitchers had a BB% less than Aguar’s 3.9%. Quite an impressive month.
Interesting set of facts: There are 2 qualified pitchers in ML baseball with a GB% greater than 50%, a K% greater than 25% and a BB% of 5% or less.
Logan Webb (60.4% GB%, 26.5 K%, 4.9% BB%)
Nate Eovaldi (51.4% GB%, 25.2 K%, 4.6% BB%)
Framber Valdez is close (59.5% GB%, 26.9 K%, 5.1% BB%)
Dayton had 2 pitchers who met these same three criteria last month:
Julien Aguiar (67.3% GB%, 29.9 K%, 3.9% BB%)
Chase Petty (56.3% GB%, 35.0 K%, 5.0% BB%)
Great day in Redsland. We’re all basking in the afterglow of a stellar performance from Abbott, EDLC is called up to the show, and we get 3 players named Player of the Month for their respective leagues. A win against LA would cap it off nicely!