It’s Noelvi Marte time in Everett.
The highly touted 19-year-old has been promoted to the Everett AquaSox, according to a tweet Monday morning from the Seattle Mariners’ player development Twitter account.
Marte, a shortstop from the Dominican Republic, is one of the top overall prospects in baseball. He’s ranked as the No. 8 prospect by Baseball America and the No. 11 prospect by MLB.com.
Marte is also ranked by MLB.com as the No. 2 prospect in the Mariners’ organization. Julio Rodriguez, who began the year with the AquaSox before getting promoted to Double-A Arkansas in late June, is the Mariners’ top-ranked prospect.
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Marte had spent the entire season with Low-A Modesto, where he batted .271 with 17 home runs, two triples and 24 doubles in 99 games with the Nuts. He posted a .368 on-base percentage and a .462 slugging percentage with Modesto. He is tied for third in the Low-A West in home runs.
Marte had an impressive first two months of the season, batting .299 with 10 home runs, one triple and 10 doubles in May and June. He had a rough July, hitting just .219 with two homers, one triple and three doubles that month.
But he bounced back with a strong August. In 23 games last month, he batted .287 with five home runs and 10 doubles, while posting a .412 on-base percentage and a .553 slugging percentage.
Marte had one of the biggest performances of the entire minor league season on Aug. 3, when he blasted three homers and drove in nine runs while going 4-for-5 with five runs scored.
Marte signed with the Mariners for $1.55 million as a 16-year-old international free agent in 2018.
He led the Dominican Summer League in total bases in 2019, when he batted .309 with nine home runs, four triples and 18 doubles in 65 games. He posted a .371 on-base percentage and a .511 slugging percentage that year.
With the 2020 minor league season canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic, Marte was one of 60 players invited to the Mariners’ Summer Camp at T-Mobile Park last July. He spent the rest of the season at the Mariners’ alternate training site in Tacoma.
Baseball America describes Marte as “an exciting athlete and hitter, (with) fast bat speed that comes through in a well-sequenced swing, showing the ability to barrel balls consistently and drive the ball for power in games.”
Alberto Rodriguez, the Low-A West player of the month for August, also has been promoted from Modesto to Everett.
Rodriguez, a 20-year-old left-handed-hitting outfielder from the Dominican Republic, is ranked by MLB.com as the No. 21 prospect in the Mariners’ organization.
Rodriguez batted .295 with 10 home runs, five triples and 30 doubles in 93 games with Modesto this season. He posted a .383 on-base percentage and a .484 slugging percentage. In August, he batted .374 with 14 extra-base hits.
The Mariners acquired Rodriguez from the Blue Jays last year as part of a trade that sent pitcher Taijuan Walker to Toronto.
Marte and Rodriguez join an AquaSox team that’s in a tight three-team race for the two spots in the High-A West championship series.
Everett (60-48) is in third place in the six-team league, trailing first-place Spokane by one game and second-place Eugene by a half-game. The AquaSox have 11 regular-season games remaining.
On to the next one!@MarteNoelvi and Alberto RodrÃguez have both been promoted to the @EverettAquasox. #SeaUsRise pic.twitter.com/efY6i91ajG
— Mariners Player Development (@MsPlayerDev) September 6, 2021
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