Cincinnati Reds #7 Prospect: OF Aristides Aquino

After a down season in 2015, thanks in part to a broken bone in his lower arm that cost him over two months of the season, the 2016 campaign got out to a nice start for Aristides Aquino on opening night. Assigned to the Daytona Tortugas, the outfielder went 2-5 with a double. The rest of that first week was a bit of a struggle though, going 4-22. Things didn’t get better the next week as he hit just .148. The first four games of the final week didn’t do much to move things in the right direction as he went 1-16, with that one being a triple. The month finished on a very high note, though, as Aquino went 8-13 with four home runs in the final four games with four walks and just one strikeout. The month, overall, was an interesting mix. He managed to hit just .229, but he drew nine walks with 20 strikeouts. His .326 on-base percentage and .434 slugging percentage made for an above-average offensive month given the very tough confines of the Florida State League.

May picked up in similar fashion to how April ended, going 4-9 with a home run in the first two games, but he then went into a slump over the next week, going just 1-25 (.040) with one walk and 13 strikeouts. Things got better after that for Aristides Aquino, who ran off an 11-game hitting streak with as many walks, five, as strikeouts all while hitting .375 with four extra-base hits. After going 0-8 on the 22nd and 23rd he picked things back up with a 7-game hitting streak to finish the month with a .277/.319/.411 line, though his strikeout-to-walk ratio dropped off to 31-to-6 in the month.

June started out slow for Aquino, going 3-15 in the first week. Things really began to pick up in the second week of the month though. In seven games Aristides Aquino just went off, going 9-28 (.321) with three home runs. That was just a taste of what was to come. In the final 11 games of the month (the All-Star break  interrupted the third week) the Dominican Republic native went crazy, hitting .396 with four doubles and four triples in 50 plate appearances. He finished the month of June with a .341/.375/.593 line and improved his strikeout-to-walk ratio with 16 strikeouts and five walks.

July picked up where June left off for Aquino, who hit .300 in the first week with another three extra-base hits and six walks – one more than he had in the entire month of June. From July 8th through the 11th he kept things going, smacking a triple and three home runs in four games, but then he went into a big slump, going 0-18 without reaching base in five games. The final nine games were about as opposite of that previous stretch as possible. In 34 plate appearances the outfielder hit .471 with five doubles, three triples and two home runs. He finished up July with a .300/.340/.667 line to go along with six walks and 14 strikeouts.

August began with Aristides Aquino continuing to serve a suspension for his part in a brawl in July. He didn’t take the field until the 5th and things got out to a very slow start when he did return. In his first seven games back he hit just .080, going 2-25 in that span. Over the final three weeks of the season he picked up where he left off, hitting .265/.326/.602 with seven home runs in 22 games.

The 2016 season was a break out one for Aristides Aquino. He posted his highest walk rate of his career, 6.5%, and his second lowest strikeout rate of his career (19.8%). His strikeout-to-walk ratio was also easily the best of his career. Those two things combined helped him control the zone better and let his hitting tools play more and his 23 home runs, 12 triples and 26 doubles. His .846 OPS was 169 points better than the league average for the Florida State League. He finished 4th in the league in doubles, led the league in triples and finished second in home runs as he put on a huge power display in a league where power output goes to die. Oh, he also led all of professional baseball with an incredible 28 outfield assists.

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Aristides Aquino Scouting Report

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Hitting | While he showed a step forward this year in his pitch selection, which let his hit tool play up some, he’s probably a slightly below-average hitter in the long run where .260 could be expected if he continues to progress.

Power | This is where he could shine. He’s got strength and creates tons of leverage giving him all kinds of raw, and current power. 25-30 home runs isn’t out of the question for him at the highest level.

Running | He’s an average to slightly above-average runner.

Arm | After a season in which he racked up 28 assists it would seem that teams were, for some reason, still willing to test him. He’s got an above-average arm and it plays well in right field, but it’s not the plus or plus-plus arm that his assist total would lead one to believe.

Fielding | He’s a quality fielder who can handle right field well.

Aristides Aquino seemed to have things come together for him in 2016 in a big way. The production was obvious, especially once you realize just how tough the league is to hit in. But it was the things that he did when you watched him at the plate that really stood out to me. He stayed back on pitches, and laid off of pitches that he would flail at in the past. His strikeout-to-walk ratio is still just over the 3.0 mark that you want to see hitters below to feel confident in their abilities, but it made big improvements in that regard in 2016. The jump to Double-A could prove to be one that makes or breaks him. His history is littered with struggles of offspeed pitches and plate approach problems. Double-A is usually the first time you consistently see pitchers who can locate offspeed offerings well enough to exploit weaknesses. If the strides taken by Aquino in the 2016 season in this department hold moving forward, it would be huge for the organization. The questions about just how well he can adjust to more advanced pitching does make him a bit risky, though.

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