Aristides

Aquino

The Punisher will head to Japan to play in 2023. The 28-year-old outfielder played in 80 games for the Reds this past year, hitting .197/.246/.363 with 10 homers and two stolen bases in 276 plate appearances. Aquino has above-average power but his above 36 percent strikeout rate was too much to overcome. Hopefully, we see him return to the majors at some point, but if not, we’ll always fondly remember when he hit 14 homers back in August, 2019.

This move had been anticipated after the 28-year-old slugger was designated for assignment on Tuesday. Aquino has blasted 41 home runs in 762 plate appearances at the big league level, but he has also struggled to make consistent contact -- slashing a mere .211/.285/.434 with a 255/66 K/BB ratio.

The Reds had to free up six spots on their 40-man roster on Tuesday and the hard-hitting 28-year-old slugger didn’t survive the purge. Aquino has clobbered 41 home runs in just 762 plate appearances at the big league level in his career -- but he has done so while slashing just .211/.285/.434 with a 255/66 K/BB ratio. That type of tantalizing power potential is likely to attract interest on waivers -- despite his swing-and-miss issues.

Aquino homered in the ninth, but it came with Cincinnati trailing by six runs with no runners on. The 28-year-old has gone deep 10 times, but it bumps his slugging percentage to a mediocre .369 in 249 at-bats. Aquino will have to fight for a roster spot in 2023,, and there’s no guarantee it will be in Cincinnati.

Aquino extended the Reds’ lead with a mammoth solo shot to left field against Cardinals starter Miles Mikolas in the sixth inning. It was his ninth long ball of the season. The 28-year-old slugger has gone deep five times in 13 games since September 2.

Incredibly, Aquino had more outfield assists than either extra-base hits or walks for a while there. Now, though, he’s up to 17 extra-base hits and 12 walks while holding steady at 11 assists. He has four homers and three doubles in his last eight games.

Aquino’s first dinger of the night was something else, as he absolutely vaporized a Javier Assad offering for a solo dinger in the top of the third inning. No doubt feeling good about himself, the 28-year-old outfielder went on to post an RBI single in the top of the sixth inning and yet another long pulled solo homer just to cap things off in the top of the ninth. With this sharp effort in the books, Aquino is slashing a still-rough .199/.237/.348 with six homers and 25 RBI across 181 at-bats for the overall campaign. A fun note: Aquino has three career multi-homer efforts, all three of which have come against the Cubbies.

Aquino came off the bench in this one as a replacement for the injured Jonathan India and made the most of his lone at-bat -- crushing a grand slam off of Chad Smith in the sixth inning to extend the Reds lead to 10-0. Even with the slam though, Aquino is hitting just .185/.225/.306 with five long balls and 22 RBI on the season.

Aquino had started nine of the Reds last 10 contests in right field -- and he’ll presumably be back out there for the second game of Sunday’s doubleheader. The 28-year-old is slashing just .180/.221/.285 with four homers, 18 RBI and a pair of stolen bases through his first 181 plate appearances on the season. TJ Freidl will start in right field for the Reds and bat leadoff against right-hander German Marquez.

It’s the first three-hit game this season for Aquino, who was pinch-hit for in the eighth inning of a game which wound up lasting 13 innings. The guy who pinch-hit for him, TJ Friedl, also tallied a couple hits.