Noelvi Marte A Big Reason The Mariners’ System Appears Ready To Burst
Image credit: (Photo by Abbie Parr/Getty Images)
Outfielders Jarred Kelenic and Julio Rodriguez spent the 2019 season clobbering the competition at every stop. Nearly every Seattle pitcher, from high-profile starters Logan Gilbert, Justin Dunn and George Kirby to whiff machines like Ljay Newsome, Sam Delaplane and Aaron Fletcher, laid waste to hitters across the minor leagues.
And in the Dominican Summer League, the leader of the next generation made his presence felt.
Shortstop Noelvi Marte, whom the Mariners signed in 2018 for $1.55 million, raked from Opening Day until the final out of the DSL season. When it was done, Marte hit .309/.371/.511 with 18 doubles, nine home runs and 17 stolen bases. He enters the season ranked No. 6 among Seattle’s enviable collection of talent.
As a reward for his incredible season and as a nod to his potentially prodigious talent, the Mariners included Marte in their 60-man player pool as the club prepares for the 2020 season. It’s a strange quirk of the current state of the world.
Major League Baseball was functioning this way because of the coronavirus pandemic, but it still stands as the happiest moment of Marte’s short career.
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“I was shocked. I even cried from joy,” Marte said with the help of a translator. “I never expected that call. I was very excited. The first thing I did was run to my mom and dad and tell them what happened. Everybody was very, very surprised, definitely shocked.”
From his first days as a professional, it was clear Marte had the talent to become a big part of the Mariners’ future. By including him in its player pool, Seattle made its confidence clear.
“He was just different in terms of his confidence level and his physicality,” Mariners farm director Andy McKay said. “It’s as old-school as it can possibly be when I say this, but the sound that the ball made coming off of his bat was really different than anybody else.”
While Marte is unlikely to make his big league debut this year, he’ll move to the Mariners’ alternate training site at Tacoma after the season opens, when he’ll get a chance to make up some of the development time caused by the loss of the minor league season.
Once the world returns to normal, Marte will get a second crack at showing Mariners fans across the country that he’s just a few years away from returning to Seattle. Only this time, it’ll be in front of a full house.
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