Noelvi Marte's lifeless performance will remind Reds' fans of former Cubs' nemesis

Noelvi Marte's 2024 struggles continued on Friday night against the Washington Nationals. The Cincinnati Reds have received little-to-nothing from Marte since the infielder returned from his suspension late last month.

Marte was popped with an 80-game suspension following his use of Boldenone — a performance enhancing drug — and left the Reds scrambling to fill his spot on the roster. As it turns out, the club's reliance on Marte may have been sorely misplaced.

After ending his 2023 season on a 16-game hitting streak with a .316/.366/.456 slash line and 119 OPS+, Marte has posted a meager .167 batting average and 26 OPS+ through his first 18 games since returning from his suspension. What's worse, is that his lack of plate discipline is reminding some in Cincinnati of a former Reds' nemesis — Javier Báez.

Noelvi Marte's lack of plate discipline is almost as bad as former Cubs' SS Javier Báez

Reds fans' hatred for Báez is likely only topped by former St. Louis Cardinals' backstop Yadier Molina. Báez's eight years with the Chicago Cubs was one of spectacular defensive plays, some big-time home runs, but a lot of strikeouts and very few walks. There was also the constant feuding between Báez and former Reds reliever Amir Garrett that saw the crowd at Great American Ball Park waiting with bated breath every time the two foes squared off.

Báez eventually left the NL Central after being traded to the New York Mets, and then joined the Detroit Tigers in free agency following the 2021 season. But Báez took that undisciplined approach in batters' box with him — constantly swinging at pitches way outside the strike zone. According to Baseball Savant, for the past four seasons, Báez has ranked at or near the bottom of the league in chase rate.

Reds fans won't like the fact, however, that Marte is in that same category through the first few weeks of his 2024 campaign. Marte's 38.1% chase rate is not much better than Báez's (45.3%). If Marte qualified, he'd be among the bottom 5% in the majors this season.

The argument can be made that Marte is still trying to get his timing down after missing nearly all of spring training and only receiving a handful of minor league at-bats before returning to the active roster. But while the Reds are in the thick of the NL Wild Card race, they can ill afford to wait on Marte to figure things out. A trip back to the minors may be in order if the 22-year-old can't stop swinging at pitches that are 10 to 12 inches off the plate.

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