Aquino HR #12: Had me at “Hello”

Aristides Aquino’s Timeline of Punishment

1. First Major League Homer
2. Obliteration
3. Hardest Hit
4. The (First) One Off Yu Darvish
5. Start of a Huge Day
6. Kyle Hendricks Tried Another Sinker
7. Farthest Hit
8. “A Loud Sound”
9. Out of the Strike Zone
10. Adam Wainwright Turned to Look Way Up
11. “You Can’t Stop This Kid!”
12. Had me at “Hello”

The twelfth post in a series looking at Aristides Aquino’s historic August home run streak.

[Credit: https://twitter.com/Reds/status/1163589568467222530]

Home Run #12

Aristides Aquino hadn’t homered in almost a week, back to August 17. This was Aquino’s first at bat in the game and he was facing Pirates starter Mitch Keller. Keller (23) is Pittsburgh’s top prospect. He spent most of the 2019 season pitching at AAA, but he did make 11 starts for the Pirates. The big league club called him up in the middle of August and he essentially pitched in the rotation after that, although the Pirates were careful in handling his workload. This game against the Reds was Keller’s third start after that mid-August call-up.

Nothing about the dimensions of this home run stands out. The exit velocity, launch angle and distance traveled were average in relation to all of Aquino’s homers.

Here is the graphic display.

[Graphic: Baseball Savant]

The Pitch

Keller has three solid pitches. His fastball is above-average velocity. His slider produces swings-and-misses and ground balls. And his curve has a sharp downward bite. In this at bat, Keller started Aquino off with a 79.6 mph curve outside and in the dirt. Aquino laid off. The second pitch was a 85-mph slider that rounded into the lower part of the strike zone, also known as Aquino’s prime hunting area. Aquino did not lay off.

 

The Hit

Aquino recognized Keller’s slider and the Reds slugger’s eyes got big as the pitch broke right over the plate. He hit it at a 26º launch angle and 101 mph exit velocity. Still, at 402 feet, the ball just cleared the right-center wall at PNC Park.

The video below features the Pirates broadcast. Stay to the end to hear them say “hello” because this was Aquino’s introduction to the Pittsburgh Pirates. [Click on the picture to see the video.]

The History

#12 by Aquino tied Adam Dunn for the most homers in a month by a Reds rookie (and it was still August 23). It also set the record for the most home runs in a 22-game stretch in MLB history.

The Game

RC+ Game Preview | RC+ Game Recap

Aquino’s homer was the only run Mitch Keller would give up in 6 innings. Anthony DeSclafani matched Keller inning-for-inning. The Reds scored a second run in the 8th inning off of public enemy Keone Kela, but Raisel Iglesias gave up two runs in the bottom of the 9th and the Pirates won, 3-2. The loss was befitting of the horrible all-white uniforms the Reds wore.