Hurry, Aq’ now!
Ride Reds rookie rest of season
WHEN you see the name Aristides Aquino, what comes to mind? An unknown Greek god who may have been the third cousin of Zeus? A philosopher, like Aristotle, Socrates or Plato? A brand of bottled water?
Or do you envision an unheralded Reds outfielder coming out of nowhere to suddenly dominate?
Here is a l ook at some of the damage the 25-year-old Dominican has done since getting the call after Yasiel Puig was dealt to the Indians:
Aquino became the fastest player to hit nine career home runs. It took him 14 games — besting Colorado’s Trevor Story, who had eight in his first 14 games in 2016. It also took just 47 plate appearances for him to smack his first nine career homers, the fewest in MLB history.
Aquino entered Saturday two homers behind Adam Dunn for the most big flies in any month by an NL rookie, a record set in 2001.
Aquino had a three-homer game against the Cubs on Aug. 10, tying an MLB record by going deep in three consecutive innings.
Aquino set a Reds exit velocity record (118.3 mph, the ninth fastest in the Statcast era) with a two-run, 445-foot homer off Cole
Hamels on Aug. 8. (FYI: Five of his first eight homers were hit more than 400 feet, three that were launched more than 445 feet.)
All of these incredible numbers make it easy to understand why his nickname is “The Punisher” and why he has been the most added player in ESPN leagues. His ownership spiked from 4.1 percent to 70.4. Amazingly, there is a good chance you never heard of Aquino before this stretch, despite the fact he has been in the Reds’ system since 2011. Aquino was the Reds’ minor league Player of the Year in 2016 after hitting .273 with 23 homers, 79 RBIs, 11 stolen bases, 69 runs and a .846 OPS in advanced Class-A. He followed that by hitting .216 in 2017 and .240 in 2018 while playing in Double-A, despite smacking 37 combined home runs.
After altering his batting stance, he hit .299 with 28 homers, 53 RBIs, 56 runs and five stolen bases in 78 games at Triple-A this season. He also had a .356 on-base percentage and .636 slugging percentage (.992 OPS). He did, however, strike out in 25.1 percent of his at-bats while walking in just 7.1 percent.
That is the part of his game that is concerning. He is very aggressive at the plate — something major league pitchers will find a way to exploit. In 2,909 minor league at-bats, he struck out 760 times (26.1 percent). Despite his early success in the majors, he is swinging and missing nearly 16 percent of the time, is swinging at 58.1 percent of the pitches he sees and has struck out in 23.5 percent of his atbats.
Aquino batting over .350 the rest of the season seems about as likely as Nolan Ryan coming out of retirement tomorrow and throwing a nohitter against the Yankees. Aquino hit .248 over nine minor league seasons, .227 in four seasons (36 games) in the Dominican Winter League and wasn’t considered to be among the Reds’ top 30 prospects.
For the moment, however, Aquino is thriving. He is crushing everything pitchers throw at him, including the secondary pitches youngsters normally struggle with. Just remember, this is a small sample size and his numbers will not always look as they do right now.
That said, he is getting playing time and hitting in the middle of a competent Reds lineup. He also will play nine of Cincinnati’s remaining 16 home games against teams ranked in the top five in homers allowed, and 13 of their last 19 away games against teams ranked in the top 12 in homers allowed (including Seattle, which has allowed the second most behind the awful Orioles). Aquino is a great late-season find who has a chance to remain a fantasy force down the stretch.