Aquino ?

[kevin]

Is he for real ? The Reds need him to be. He looked great on defense in right field and hit 20 homers in the short time up from minors. Was the player of month in August. His batting average below .250 though.

The Reds need a good season from Suarez again. They need solid pitching from Castillo, Gray, Bauer, Disco, Miley. They need bullpen to be good, but not over used and burned out by June. They could use a lot more out of Votto. They could use Iglesias as a star closer. They could use Mouskakes, Castillano & Galvis to be positive additions. They could use some of the young outfielders to produce.

So there is HOPE for the Reds IF players have a good year. Aquino being for real would help. The guy plays great right field with a rocket arm and he should be there again, hopefully jacking the ball like George Foster use to. Reds could use that. We need more than just end of last season excitement. Let's hope Aquino is for real. GO REDS.

[samhain]

I think he starts the year in AAA. If Senzel is healthy, there's not much room to get him consistent ABs. Let him get playing time in Louisville to work on his swing and call up as needed. I think Winker no doubt makes the team before he does.

[*TheLeonardLeap*]

The answer on if he's real is: Probably not.

Career .248/.308/.455 hitter in a 3,200-ish PA sample size in the minors.
vs
A single monster month in the juiced ball year, followed by a month where he hit .196/.236/.382 in Sept.

He'll probably still have good pop even if/when the juiced balls go away, but he'll continue to struggle to hit for average and have mediocre on base skills. I don't know if you want him to get starts in AAA, or be a 5th OF, but that's what he is right now, the 5th OF.

LF: Nick Castellanos
CF: Shogo Akiyama
RF: Jesse Winker vs RHP/Phil Ervin vs LHP (and probably first bat off the bench for whomever isn't starting)

(I don't know if the Reds view Nick C as a LF or RF.)

[kevin]

That would be very sad if Reds start season with Aquino in minors and go with Winker or somebody in right. Aquino showed off a better arm in right than Puig who wasn't bad.

The Reds are NOT as loaded as some think. Getting out of last and making a move to first place hinges greatly on Aquino in right putting up 30 to 40 homers. Reds need a good season from Aquino, and not in the minors, who cares about Louisville.

The Reds only make a move up if all the pieces come together, and a big piece in this is Aquino, not these other stiffs like Winker. Aquino needs to be like Dave Parker, Paul O'Neil or Jay Bruce in right on defense and offense for Reds to climb in the NL Central.

If Aquino starts season in minors, the Reds chances in 2020 go downhill greatly, because this team is NOT as deep as fans like to pretend. Aquino hitting 30 to 40 homers in 2020 helps Reds chances, plus he has a rocket arm in right that runners don't even challenge the extra base.

[fredtoast]

Just about every time any bad team makes a huge leap there is some unexpected player that goes off. The Reds really need Aquino to be that guy. Unfortunately I have my doubts. As Leap pointed out he has a long track record in the minors and he just doesn't look that good.

It is much more likely for a guy like Senzel to explode with a .300/.400/.500 season than for Aquino to come close to a full season of what he did last year.

[*bengalfan74*]

I still have high hopes for Aquino because, he's as has been stated a good defender with a strong arm. If he can hit .265 with 30 HR's and 80-90 RBI's and add in the defense......

I just don't have a lot of faith in Castellanos, Winker and others being long term options.

[Circleville Guy]

The best thing that could happen is that he’s not needed to play that much. That means that you’ve got 3 projected starters doing well. The power is definitely there, regardless of juiced balls. Teams now have better scouting on what not to throw him. The good thing is that there are several possible options in the OF.

[*TheLeonardLeap*]

(02-18-2020, 12:59 PM)bengalfan74 Wrote: I still have high hopes for Aquino because, he's as has been stated a good defender with a strong arm. If he can hit .265 with 30 HR's and 80-90 RBI's and add in the defense......

I just don't have a lot of faith in Castellanos, Winker and others being long term options.

He's never done this in a non-juiced ball season.

He's a career .248 hitter in the minors, and was a 20 HR kind of guy. 20 in 2018, 17 in 2017, 23 in 2016.

Would be nice to be wrong, but I don't think I am on this one. Would sure feel a lot better if he didn't follow up that monster August with that absolutely horrible September. Just like we saw with Dietrich, one great month doesn't mean you are suddenly a good batter.

- - - - - - - - - -

Castellanos I don't expect him to be as good as he was in the half-season with the Cubs, but he is still a career .277/.326/.471 hitter, and a .287/.337/.505 hitter over the last three years. Only like a 25 HR/yr hitter, but he's hit 140 doubles over the last 3 years, including 104 doubles the last two years. I just worry about his defense a bit, but there's less and less balls in play these days so it might not matter that much.

Winker is a legit starter in a platoon. Career .285/.379/.466 hitter, which looks even better if you put him in a platoon with Ervin considering Winker is a career .307/.396/.511 hitter against RHP, which makes up the majority of the league (and there's no more LOOGY anymore with the 3 batter minimum in 2020).

[fredtoast]

(02-18-2020, 12:59 PM)bengalfan74 Wrote: I just don't have a lot of faith in Castellanos, 

Only SEVEN major league outfielders have a higher slugging percentage than Castellanos (.505) over the last 3 seasons (min 1200 AB).  His batting average (.287) is 9th and his OPS (.842) is 10th.

And he is still just 27.

[*bengalfan74*]

(02-18-2020, 06:24 PM)fredtoast Wrote: Only SEVEN major league outfielders have a higher slugging percentage than Castellanos (.505) over the last 3 seasons (min 1200 AB).  His batting average (.287) is 9th and his OPS (.842) is 10th.

And he is still just 27.

His outs above average or whatever did improve a lot last season. Perhaps he will be serviceable in the field ?

[grampahol]

It's tough to judge everyone on what they've done in the minor leagues. It's a different game and mindset. In the minor leagues everyone is trying to impress enough to make it to the show and not many people other than perhaps local fans of those teams even care about the standings. Usually when someone gets called up to the major league level it's when they're peaking at the minor league level. Almost nobody goes down to AAA when they're peaking at the ML level unless they're just not good enough. We, as fans got a very short time period to see Aquino and it was at his best and then worse. We still don't know how he might perform through an entire season in the big leagues. He might do great and blow everyone away or might regress, but keeping him in AAA we'll never know. Even if he hits 60 HR's in Louisville it does nothing for the Reds other than makes him a very attractive trade piece. Perhaps he spends time in AAA till he really heats up again and keeps it up at the big league level, but sitting in AAA all season means nothing.

[kevin]

Can we agree that Aquino has the power to hit many home runs ?

I really don't care if he bats .240 if he clocks 40 to 50 homers. I would rather have that than a Judy hitter with less than 10 homers and .300 avg.

I know fans have different favorites that they want to in the game. None of them have George Foster power as Aquino does.

Also, none of them have Aquino's rocket arm in right field. The hardest throw in baseball is right to third and Aquino has the arm.

Again I say if Suarez hits homers, if Moustakes hits homers, if Votto rebounds and hits homers, if Aquino hits homers, this could be a World Series batting order. Wanting Aquino in minors would be if Reds had wanted George Foster in minors, No World Series wins in 70's for the Reds.

[grampahol]

(02-21-2020, 05:38 AM)kevin Wrote: Can we agree that Aquino has the power to hit many home runs ?

I really don't care if he bats .240 if he clocks 40 to 50 homers.  I would rather have that than a Judy hitter with less than 10 homers and .300 avg.  

I know fans have different favorites that they want to in the game.  None of them have George Foster power as Aquino does.  

Also, none of them have Aquino's rocket arm in right field.  The hardest throw in baseball is right to third and Aquino has the arm.

Again I say if Suarez hits homers, if Moustakes hits homers, if Votto rebounds and hits homers, if Aquino hits homers, this could be a World Series batting order.  Wanting Aquino in minors would be if Reds had wanted George Foster in minors,  No World Series wins in 70's for the Reds.

There's a lot more to it than just batting average and homeruns.. Ideally I want Aquino to hit .390 all season AND swat out 50 home runs and never swing at bad pitches and throw out 20 runners at 3rd base from the furthest reaches of right field..and steal 40 bases
Now really, am I asking for too much for once in my life? C'mon.. I deserve this for once in my life even if it's pie in the sky thinking! I deserve some pie once in awhile dammit! And while I'm on the subject a decent cup of coffee with my pie DAMMIT!