The Cincinnati Reds sent struggling former top prospect Noelvi Marte to the minors and are expected to promote slugger Rece Hinds for an upcoming series against the San Francisco Giants.
The 24-year-old Marte hit just .138 through 11 games. He posted a near-impossible -7 wRC+. Marte served as Cincinnati’s everyday right fielder to begin the campaign. The former top prospect delivered league-average results in 2025.
Charlie Goldsmith of Fox 19 was among those to report Hinds would be replacing Marte. The righty swinger was off to a tremendous start at Triple-A, slashing .354/.475/.771 across 13 games at Louisville. Hinds has a strong .506 slugging percentage through 39 big-league contests.
Cincinnati Reds Send Down Noelvi Marte, Plan to Promote Rece Hinds
Marte looked like a breakout star through the first few months of the 2025 campaign. He delivered an .857 OPS into early May. Marte suffered an oblique injury and went to the injured list on May 7. He returned on July 4 and picked up right where he’d left off at the plate. Marte bashed eight home runs between July and August. He posted a strong .865 OPS in the latter month.
The wheels came off for Marte in September. He slashed just .191/.214/.287 in 94 at-bats. Marte was in the lineup for Game 1 of the Wild Card round against the Los Angeles Dodgers. He went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts and a walk. Marte was not in the lineup for Game 2. The Reds were easily dispatched by the eventual World Series champs.
Marte managed just four hits in 31 plate appearances to open the 2026 season. All four of his hits were singles. The most concerning aspect of Marte’s stat line to begin the year is the strikeout rate. After notching a reasonable 23.6% mark in 2025, Marte has punched out at an untenable 32.3% clip this season. Just 37.6% of the pitches thrown to Marte have been in the strike zone. Despite the plethora of balls, Marte is swinging at a career-high 55.2% rate.
Reds Give Hinds Another Shot
The 25-year-old Hinds burst on the scene in 2024. He launched a pair of home runs in his first two career MLB games. Hinds added two doubles and a triple in those contests, giving him an absurd five extra-base hits in his first eight at-bats. His pace understandably slowed from there, but the outfielder still posted an excellent 1.051 OPS in his debut big-league season.
Strikeouts are the main drawback for Hinds. He whiffed at a bloated 31.4% clip in 2024. Hinds came up for a short stint last season. He struck out at a massive 47.7% rate across 15 games. The outfielder flashed his well-known power with a pair of long balls in his first five appearances, but the swing-and-miss tendencies ultimately ended his MLB time by July. Hinds has a 23.7% swinging-strike rate and a 60.0% zone contact rate in the majors. It’s hard to stick as a big leaguer when you’re making contact so infrequently.
Hinds will join an outfield mix that includes TJ Friedl, Spencer Steer, Will Benson, and Dane Myers. He could be a platoon partner for the left-handed Benson, though Myers could also fill that role.
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