Aristides Aquino has always been a toolsy caliber player, but throughout this career he has been up-and-down with his performance. In 2016 with Daytona he had a breakout year where he upped his power and walk rate while also cutting his strikeout rate. But in 2017 with a promotion to Double-A his numbers went backwards almost across the board.
After a tough 2017 season with Pensacola, the Cincinnati Reds sent Aristides Aquino back there to join the Blue Wahoos in 2018. The season didn’t get out to a great start in the first week. The outfielder went 5-21 (.238) with a double and eight strikeouts. The second week was a different story for Aquino, who went 8-21 (.381) with five doubles, two walks, and just three strikeouts. As quickly as his bat heated up, it cooled off, as he hit just .208 the next week. The month closed out on a high note, though, as he would OPS .956 in the final five games. The month was inconsistent, but solid overall. In 91 plate appearances he hit .286/.341/.417 with six walks and 24 strikeouts.
The first 10 days of May got out to a very tough start for Aristides Aquino.He went 3-31 (.097) with a home run and 11 strikeouts in eight games. He picked things up from there, hitting four home runs over the next week while striking out just four times. That hot stretch didn’t carry over to the final 10 games of the month. While Aquino hit two more home runs, he hit just .243 with two walks and 17 strikeouts in those 10 games. He finished the month with a .200/.248/.442 line to go along with five walks and 32 strikeouts in 101 plate appearances.
June began with a solid game. Aristides Aquino went 1-2 with a walk and a double on the 1st. In the next game he would leave early with a knee injury. The 24-year-old missed the next nine days before returning to the lineup on the 13th. It was a slow return for Aquino who hit just .176 over his first 10 games back. He did pick things up in the final three games, going 5-12 with three doubles. In 15 games played he hit .245/.302/.429 during the month with four walks and 14 strikeouts.
With a 5-game hitting streak coming into the month, Aristides Aquino kept it going through the first week of July. He racked up a single in all six games played to run the streak to 11 games, but that’s where it ended. The second week didn’t go as well as he managed just four hits in 26 at-bats (.154). The slump didn’t last long, though. In the final two weeks he caught fire, going 16-52 (.308) with nine walks and just 10 strikeouts. He also added in five homers and three doubles. July went down as his best month of the year, hitting .260/.333/.470 with 11 walks and 21 strikeouts in 111 plate appearances.
August got out to a strange start for Aristides Aquino. He went 4-28 (.143) with all of his hits being for extra-bases in the first eight games. He walked six times with seven strikeouts during the week. Over the next week he went off, hitting .409 with a .591 slugging percentage. His next game would come in the Cincinnati when he made a pinch hit appearance on August 19th. It would be his Major League debut, and his only appearance in the week-plus that he spent with Cincinnati. He returned to Double-A for the final seven games of the year. The time off of not seeing live pitching while in the Majors may have cost him as he went just 3-26 in his return. He would finish the final five weeks of the year with a .208/.303/.468 line with nine walks and 22 strikeouts in 89 plate appearances.
For all 2018 Season Reviews and Scouting Reports – click here (these will come out during the week throughout the offseason).
Aristides Aquino Spray Chart
Aristides Aquino Scouting Report
Hitting | He’s got a below-average hit tool with a bit of a pull-heavy approach.
Power | One area where he stands out, Aquino has plus raw power an above-average game power.
Running | He’s got average speed.
Defense | He’s a fringe-average defender who is capable of playing both left or right field.
Arm | He’s got an above-average to plus arm, which plays well in right field.
Consistency was and has been an issue for Aristides Aquino. In 2018 there were plenty of ups-and-downs as he worked through a mechanical change. Prior to 2018 he had a big leg kick, but he got rid of that in favor of a toe-tap. He also lowered his hands in his load slightly. His strikeout rate was 29.3% through the first 60 games of the year. In the final 55 games in the second half it dropped to 21.3%, and he also saw his walk rate jump up to 9.1% from 6.7%. The improved contract rate led to a jump in OPS in the second half of nearly 100 points. Still, he hit just .247 during that time – the power and on-base percentage played up, though.
At this point, he will be 25-years-old before the end of April in 2019, and he’s struggled to hit for an average in Double-A. And after the season the Reds non-tendered him before re-signing him to a minor league contract. There’s still a chance that his power and defense could help him reach the Major Leagues again in the future. But right now it seems that being a useful corner outfielder as a bench player is a far more likely role than one of a future starter. Still, if he can manage to hit .250 in the future, that power will play and there’s a chance he could still carve out a career as a starting caliber corner guy. The likelihood of that just gets smaller with each year where he struggles to hit.
Longest Home Run of the Year
421 Feet on September 1st.
Interesting Stat on Aristides Aquino
After having big splits in 2017 (.624 OPS against RHP, .833 against LHP), he flipped things in 2018. Against right handed pitchers he had a .799 OPS, but managed just a .584 OPS against lefties.