Outfielder Aristides Aquino capped his MVP season with even more hardware, adding the Sheldon “Chief” Bender Award to his growing collection as the Reds recognized him as their Minor League Player of the Year.
Aquino, the organization’s No. 7 prospect, batted .273/.327/.519 in 125 games with Daytona and led Reds minor league hitters with 23 home runs and 79 RBIs. In addition to posting a league-leading .931 OPS in the second half, “The Punisher” also showed a plus arm in right field, outclassing Florida State League outfielders with 28 assists.
The Reds added Aquino to the 40-man roster on Nov. 18, another feather in his cap after rebounding from an injury-marred 2015 season. He was named to midseason and postseason All-Star teams, earned a High Class A All-Star nod from Baseball America and received additional praise from MiLB.com and MLBPipeline.com.
Infielder Shed Long, recently written up here as the system’s No. 16 prospect, took home Minor League Hitter of the Year honors. Long batted .293/.371/.471 with a career-high 15 home runs and 75 RBIs in 132 games. The second baseman led Dayton hitters with a .281 average and .828 OPS but didn’t skip a beat after his promotion to Daytona in July. His .324 average and .885 OPS in his final 37 games led the Tortugas while ranking fifth and sixth among Florida State League hitters, respectively.
Left-handed pitcher Amir Garrett, the Reds’ No. 4 prospect and likely a consensus Top 100 prospect in 2017, repeated as the club’s Minor League Pitcher of the Year. Garrett breezed through the Southern League in his upper-level debut, pitching to a 5-3 record in 13 games with the Blue Wahoos. At the time of his promotion, he ranked among league leaders in opposing average (.184, 1st), ERA (1.75, 2nd), WHIP (1.03, 2nd) and strikeouts (78, 4th). Though his numbers backed up in Louisville, his 2.55 ERA and 1.09 WHIP led qualified pitchers in the Reds organization. He also made his second consecutive trip to the Futures Game, throwing two scoreless innings for the U.S. team.
Right-handed pitcher Barrett Astin, a fixture at community events and meet-and-greets in Pensacola, was recognized with the affiliate outreach award. For what it’s worth, Astin enjoyed a breakout season as the Wahoos’ swingman, pitching 37 games (11 starts) with 96 strikeouts over 103.1 innings and an anemic 0.958 WHIP.
Doug will have continuing coverage of Redsfest here and on Twitter @dougdirt24 over the weekend.