The Reds’ rookie has a “free mind” thanks to suspension

Cincinnati Reds rookie midfielder Noelvi Marte sounded optimistic on Monday as he addressed the media for the first time since an 80-game suspension in March for steroid use.

How long that lasts will likely depend on how well he performs during his two-week “rehabilitation” at Triple-A Louisville, whether he is able to rejoin the major league club when he becomes eligible on June 27, as scheduled , and on how much it will be possible. he’s contributing to a team that desperately could have used another bat earlier in the season.

Until then, he had no explanation for how the equine steroid Boldenone had entered his system (“it just showed up”) and no apparent concern about how he might be perceived publicly when he returned to the field for the road series opener against the rival St. Cardinals. Ludwik.

“We’re leaving it to God to decide what happens,” said Marte, who seemed more focused on preparing to return to a Reds squad short on players who lost three projected starters in quick succession in March – including TJ Friedel . and Matt McLain due to long-term injuries.

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Friedl has since returned to the lineup and has contributed to the recent surge in points.

Noelvi Marte: “I’m starting completely over again” after suspending PEDs

“I feel like I’m starting all over again,” Marte, 22, said through team translator Jorge Merlos. “I’m really looking forward to (starting over) and getting back to what I know I like to do.”

Marte said he physically prepared better than ever before the season began, which included extended spring games in Arizona followed by exhibition and simulated games in the Dominican Republic before the Dominican Summer League, with short breaks in between.

He said friends and teammates back home, as well as many in the Reds organization, have helped him deal with the emotions and thought processes that have accompanied him over the past few months.

“The whole team supported me,” said Marte, who was listed as the Reds’ third baseman until her suspension.

“I have a free mind,” he said. “I left everything in God’s hands, and in a sense he has a wheel that shows me the way to go. I can’t have any negative thoughts coming to my mind right now. This isn’t how I have to deal with it.

Watching the Reds struggle was “difficult” for Noelvi Marte

That doesn’t mean it was easy watching the team struggle early in the season without him, or that things will get easier once he returns to the field.

Two months into the season, the Reds were the worst-hitting team in the major leagues, at one point losing 10 straight games to one series, and as of May 23, until a recent surge, they were on a 6-20 skid.

“It was hard to watch the games knowing I wouldn’t be able to help this team,” Marte said. “I felt anxious and ready to go back, and also a little distraught that I knew I wouldn’t be able to be there.

“But the good news is that they are on a better streak now,” he added. “They are taking a better path. And fortunately, I will soon be able to be there to support them.”

Asked if he felt guilty that he couldn’t help because the drug was suspended, he replied: “No. I think it’s all part of the game. Teams go through this all the time.

“If I had been there, maybe the same thing would have happened,” he said. “So I don’t think I’ve ever felt anything like that before.”

What will Noelvi Marte bring to the Reds upon his return?

However, he believes that when he returns, he will bring “a lot of positive energy” and “good vibes”.

“I think he’s doing pretty well,” teammate Frankie Montas said recently after checking on Marte. “I think he has the right mentality. He knows he made a mistake, whatever it ultimately is. And he’s growing up. Thanks to this, he matures.”

Montas, who was suspended for 80 games for doping use in 2019, has been advising Marte since the rookie’s suspension.

“He knows the only thing he can do is go out there and just keep getting better,” Montas said. “He knows we’ll definitely need him at some point as soon as he’s able to come back.”

Marte, acquired from Seattle in the Luis Castillo trade at the 2022 deadline, debuted last August and in 35 games hit .316 with three hits, eight walks and six stolen bases.

Marte said one of the lessons he learned from the experience is to be more careful about what he puts in his body and who he trusts when training at home in the Dominican Republic.

“Only because I live in a country that doesn’t have the same healthcare system (or FDA standards) as we usually have in the US,” he said, via Merlos. “So I have to make sure, just review everything and make sure that my process is good enough that these results won’t be repeated.”