Mariners Noelvi Marte continues to impress in early 2022

It seems like you could write about Noelvi Marte once a month, and have it be full of entirely new news. There is so much going on with that guy, and so much that changes, that it’s almost worth providing constant updates about him. The Mariners have a stud in their system, and he truly could be special.

The most recent thing that came out, in an article by Corey Brock, talked about how Noelvi Marte was pushing 6’3″ and was up around 210 lbs. We aren’t looking at a little guy anymore. This is someone who has grown into their body and looks like a full-fledged major leaguer already. In case you forgot, Marte turned 20 in October. It’s not just some little writer like me saying this, either.

"“He’s a real dude,” Dipoto said of Marte in 2019. “He’s got a chance to become a monster.”"

Shoot, even Keith Law had some good words for Marte.

"“If he (Marte) stays at short, he could be a top-five player in baseball with this combination of approach, power and speed.”"

What’s crazy is that Marte thinks he is still growing. We are moving away from the Hanley Ramirez size comparison and moving into the Alex Rodriguez comparison. I know if you look online it shows Hanley at 6’2″ and A-Rod at 6’3″, but it definitely seems like there is a solid 3″ in height difference between the two players.

Noelvi Marte is one of the best prospects in all of baseball and Mariners fans should rejoice at his growth.

One of the main discussion points that you will run into when talking about Marte is where he will end up playing in the bigs. If he gets any bigger or loses a bit of foot speed, he is likely going to have to move to third. There’s a worry that SS might be too much for him, but personally, I think part of that is taking a young kid and having him work on a lot of things at once. He’s been putting in the work this offseason to make that change and adjustment.

"“By no means is Marte a finished product, not as a hitter or a fielder. He had 29 errors last season in Modesto, many of which he attributed to throwing. That’s not entirely unusual for a young shortstop. He’s spent time this spring with big-league coach Perry Hill, an infield guru.”"

Marte is looking like a monster (in a good way) so far in whatever you want to call the minor league Spring Training that has been happening. He’s gotten a lot bigger, and the swing has gotten even better as well. He’s been ripping shots all over the place, and reports are that the ball just sounds different when he hits it.

You’ll hear that more than is true, but in the case of Marte, he does seem to be one of the few who actually does something different to the baseball. Like he did against the Padres earlier in March during a scrimmage.

Even Mariners former center fielder, Mike Cameron, noticed it when watching him, saying that Marte was…

"“A grown freaking man,”"

Marte could easily be following the same path that Julio is on this year. By that, I mean approaching the majors and ready for a call-up around that Mid-May timeline, the same one that we saw Gilbert and Kelenic on in 2021. Special things are happening, and we have to keep on Marte throughout all of it. If we look away for too long, we are bound to miss something amazing.