Entering August, Cincinnati Reds outfielder Aristides Aquino had one plate appearance — last season — in the majors. Well, here we are on Aug. 10, and Aquino has seven homers.
Aquino has seven homers in his first nine games this season. And he hit three homers in his first three plate appearances against the Chicago Cubs on Saturday night.
Aristides Aquino belts his fifth homer in his first ten games as a Red, a new franchise record ‼️#BornToBaseball pic.twitter.com/F484QTCQb9
— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) August 10, 2019
Please don't report our tweets for spam… 💀#ThePunisher | #BornToBaseball pic.twitter.com/FC464YEzfx
— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) August 11, 2019
The third dinger was a massive blast, estimated at 452 feet by Statcast.
THIS. IS. REAL. LIFE. #BornToBaseball pic.twitter.com/0xC4TVVqjK
— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) August 11, 2019
Aristides Aquino (6) off RHP Dillon Maples (2) – 107.4 mph, 27 degrees (452 ft Home Run)
96.7 mph Four-Seamer#Cubs @ #Reds (B4) pic.twitter.com/xkMMUwzXxn— MLBBarrelAlert (@MLBBarrelAlert) August 11, 2019
Aquino joins the Colorado Rockies’ Trevor Story as the only players to hit seven homers in their first 10 MLB games in the live-ball era.
Aristides Aquino is homering faster than we can tweet. 😅
He just hit his THIRD of the game – he has 7 HR through his 1st 10 games, tying Trevor Story for the most in the live-ball era. pic.twitter.com/UVYwVm6uFn
— MLB Stats (@MLBStats) August 11, 2019
Aristides Aquino homered in the second, third, and fourth innings versus the Cubs on Saturday, becoming the first player in @Reds history, as well as the first rookie player on any @MLB team, to hit a home run in three consecutive innings within a single game. #BornToBaseball
— Elias Sports Bureau (@EliasSports) August 11, 2019
Aquino is 25 years old and wasn’t really viewed as much of a “prospect” before the call-up, but he clearly has big-time power. The 6’4, 220-pounder had 28 homers and a .636 slugging percentage in 323 plate appearances Triple-A Louisville (35 homers in 352 plate appearances combined between the two levels).
Now, the Cubs have grooved Aquino far too many pitches in this series, and you can be sure that advanced scouts are jotting notes down to attack Aquino with pitches out of the zone. Aquino’s minor league numbers suggest he’s a bit of a free-swinger; he last had a walk percentage above 7.9 in 2012 (rookie ball).
But there’s no doubt Aquino can at least hit the heck out of a mistake, and pitchers will make mistakes, even if they develop a better plan of attack for the right-handed slugger.
