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BALTIMORE -- Many of the prospects moving a step closer to Cincinnati were key pieces of the team's 2022 trades that began the rebuilding effort.

The Reds promoted two of their top prospects -- third baseman Noelvi Marte and starting pitcher Connor Phillips -- to Triple-A Louisville after Double-A Chattanooga won the Southern Division North First Half title to earn a playoff berth.

Marte, who is ranked by MLB Pipeline as Cincinnati's No. 2 prospect and No. 18 overall, batted .281 with an .820 OPS, eight home runs and 25 RBIs in 50 games at Double-A. Although he is a natural shortstop, his future position is likely third base.

“He played really well. I know he had an injury at the end of the half which kept him down a little while but he took really good at-bats," Reds general manager Nick Krall said. "He really took to third base and continued to play and grow as a defender. He’s really just progressing as a baseball player and it’s great to see him do it in a league where pitching numbers were up and he continued to maintain his offensive numbers.”

Phillips, Cincinnati's No. 10 prospect, was 2-2 with a 3.34 ERA in 14 starts for the Lookouts. In 64 2/3 innings, he walked 27 and racked up 111 strikeouts. His final start was only two-thirds of an inning because he exceeded 30 pitches but his other recent starts were impressive.

In his June 7 outing, Phillips allowed one hit and one walk with 10 strikeouts over seven scoreless innings. On June 13, he struck out 12 batters over six innings. 

“He really progressed from last year to this year. He spent almost a whole year at Double-A between half a year last year and half this year. He’s starting to make impactful strides as a starting pitcher," Krall said.

“Could we have moved him a start earlier? Yeah, but we wanted to try to win the first half in Chattanooga and we were able to do that. It’s an experience for all of those players that they get a chance to win and experience that to grow both as a player and a team.”

As the Reds deal with shortages and struggles in their big league rotation, Phillips is a candidate for a callup sooner than later. The Southern League was part of an MLB-driven pilot program to test tackier baseballs, and Phillips used them in the first half. Those balls aren't used at Triple-A or the big leagues. He will need to get used to the different feel of regular balls before he's a candidate for promotion.

"What will be the difference? It’s going to be a little bit of a wait-and-see," Krall said.

Marte and Phillips came from the Mariners system in separate trades. Marte, 21, was part of the four-prospect haul for rotation ace Luis Castillo  on July 30, 2022. 

On March 14, 2022, the Reds sent Eugenio Súarez and Jesse Winker to Seattle to get Phillips along with Jake Fraley, Brandon Williamson and Justin Dunn.