Marte spent 2022-2024 pitching out of the bullpen for the San Francisco Giants and Philadelphia Phillies, but in 2025 he pitched in Japan for Chunichi. In the NPB, things can get a little confusing because their minor league system has the exact same names for the teams. I mention that because Yunior Marte spent time pitching in the NPB major and minor leagues in 2025. He was very good at both and even had a lower ERA at the highest level, where he posted a 1.95 ERA in 35 games. He threw 32.1 innings with 11 walks and 25 strikeouts. While pitching for Chunichi in the minor leagues, he had a 2.45 ERA in 14.2 innings, walked no one and struck out 23. In mid-December, he joined Licey in the Dominican Winter League for the final two weeks of the regular season and did not allow a baserunner in any of his five one-inning appearances.
In his parts of three big league seasons, he threw 113.1 innings and had an ERA of 5.64. The right-handed pitcher gave up 128 hits, 16 home runs, 54 walks and 105 strikeouts. His home run percentage got worse every season. In 2024, his walk rate and strikeout rate were both the worst of his three years. You can view his career stats here.
While throwing in Japan, his control was much better. We don’t have any pitch tracking related data to look at for his time pitching at Chunichi. But we do have a few from the last three weeks in the Dominican Winter League. It doesn’t seem like he’s picked up a new field. But he throws considerably softer than when he threw in his career in the United States. He averaged 97-98 MPH in his three seasons from 2022-2024. Over his five matches with Licey this month, he has an average of just under 94 MPH and a top end of just over 95 MPH.
He has hit triple digits in the past, and in 2024 he was among the top 10% of hardest pitchers in baseball with at least 20 innings pitched. The Reds are probably hoping they can help him find that kind of speed again, but also find the guy who threw more strikes while pitching in Japan and has a useful bullpen arm.
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