It was a loud weekend for Reds bats in winter ball, with Noelvi Marte and Francisco Urbaez both leaving the yard and Yael Romero adding another homer overseas.
Marte kept rolling in the Dominican Republic. After his 4-hit night Saturday for the Gigantes - a game that also included a double, two runs scored and two driven in - he came back Sunday with another three-hit performance and his first home run of the winter. He finished that one with two more runs and two more RBI.
The early numbers for Marte at Cibao have been eye-opening. In seven games, he’s collected hits in six of them, reached base in all seven, and is batting .400/.424/.567 with three extra-base hits, seven runs and six RBI. He’s also gone 3-for-3 on stolen-base tries.
Urbaez was doing his damage in the same league, though in a very different role. The former Triple-A Louisville teammate of Marte entered for Este as a pinch hitter in the ninth inning for the Toros and connected for his second homer of the season.
That’s a notable turn for Urbaez, who had played parts of four previous Dominican Winter League seasons before this one. Across 75 games and 189 at-bats, he had managed only one extra-base hit, a double in 2021 with Escogido before he was later traded to Este. This winter, he’s already homered twice in just 10 at-bats.
Power has never been his calling card. Urbaez has 33 home runs in 542 career minor league games, but his reputation has been built more on contact and getting on base. In the minors, he’s hit .281/.362/.409 and struck out only 318 times in 2,205 plate appearances.
Meanwhile, in Mexico, Romero joined the home run parade on Saturday night for Guasave. The 21-year-old first baseman, who turned 21 earlier this month, hit an opposite-field shot.
Romero spent all but three games this season with the Arizona Complex League Reds, and while his year was interrupted by multiple stints on the shelf, he still got into 25 games. In those 51 at-bats, he hit .314/.500/.647 with nine extra-base hits, while drawing 14 walks against 16 strikeouts.
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