There have been a whopping 423 MLB players who have logged at least 100 PA so far during the 2026 regular season. Not a single one of them has produced a worse fWAR that the -1.4 put up by Cincinnati Reds outfielder Noelvi Marte.
It will be hard for Marte to compound on that number for a bit, however. On Tuesday, the Reds optioned him back to AAA Louisville, promoting catcher Will Banfield in a move that will likely allow Tyler Stephenson’s bat to stay in the lineup more regularly at DH.
On the whole, Marte has hit just .189/.229/.321 (.550 OPS) in 201 PA so far this season, though the month of August has been particularly brutal for him. He’s gone just 4 for 32 with 10 strikeouts this month, failing to even so much as pick up an extra base hit.
It’s the second time this season that the Reds have found themselves needing to option the former top prospect, who simply hasn’t found a way to find any sort of consistency at any point since coming over from the Seattle Mariners as the headliner in the 2022 Luis Castillo deal. Given that they’ve already had to scrap him as a shortstop, scrap him as a 3B, and shovel him into a corner outfield spot defensively, it’s a wonder just how many more opportunities the Reds are going to give him with the bat as seemingly nothing has seemed to work amid their myriad adjustments.
For now, he’ll once again get to work on things with AAA Louisville amid an outfield that boasts fellow demotee Will Benson and former 1st round picks who haven’t figured it out in Austin Hendrick and Jay Allen. Beyond that, we’re once again forced to call into question the entire future of the Cincinnati outfield as seemingly none of the top players who’ve been promoted up to get their shots there have managed to take hold.
