ESPN.com reports:
"Aquino got the scoring started in the first inning with a two-run home run off Robert Dugger, scoring Joey Votto in the process. He later tied the game up in the eighth with an RBI single, scoring Votto once again. With the long ball, the 25-year-old becomes the fastest ever to 14 home runs, passing Rhys Hoskins. He also set a new rookie record with 14 home runs in a single month, surpassing Cody Bellinger, who tallied 13 in June 2017. In terms of Cincinnati's record books, the slugger tied the 14-homer mark in a calendar month set by Greg Vaughn and Hall of Famer Frank Robinson..." - CBS Sports
One month ago, few baseball fans outside of prospect hounds or regular followers of the Louisville Bats had heard of Cincinnati Reds outfielder Aristides Aquino. That's not a criticism. Aquino had made some minor waves on prospect lists a few years ago, but after hitting .216 at Double-A in 2017 and .240 while repeating the level in 2018, he had fallen off the radar.
In fact, for 24 hours last offseason, any team could have signed Aquino. He had appeared in one game for the Reds in August and struck out in his lone plate appearance but wasn't called back up when rosters expanded in September. On Nov. 30, the Reds non-tendered Aquino, needing space on their 40-man roster for other moves. The Reds let him know they wanted to bring him back, but he was technically a free agent and could have signed with any other team.
"When you take a guy off the roster, you are exposed," Reds general manager Nick Krall told John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer earlier this month. "We told him we were going to take him off, but we also expressed, 'Hey, we want to bring you back.' It was pretty quick. We signed him that night."
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