Cincinnati Reds: Despite DFA, David Bell still believes in Aristides Aquino

DENVER — Since signing with the Cincinnati Reds as an amateur free agent on January 18, 2011, the Reds are the only franchise that Aristides Aquino has known as a professional baseball player. That is just one of the facts that made Saturday’s decision to designate him for assignment so difficult, Cincinnati manager David Bell said.

Aquino, who has 529 plate appearances for the Cincinnati Reds over the past five seasons, had 23 strikeouts in 43 plate appearances this season while going just 2-for-41 (one of those hits was a home run at Dodger Stadium against Walker Buehler, see video below) for a Reds team that won just three of its first 20 games.

“Every player has their own process,” Bell said before the Reds played the second of a three-game series in Colorado against the Rockies. “The results are everything in this game. In the end, we don’t see it that way. We see it as part of the process of helping each guy. But, yeah, I think the answer is that it came down to the results.

“We’re doing everything we can to get better as a team and to win as many games as we can.”

While the Cincinnati Reds designated Aristides Aquino for assignment, manager David Bell believes the 28-year-old outfielder still can bounce back

Aquino has struggled mightily this season, but the stretch he put together in 2019 where he slashed .259/.316/.576 with 19 home runs and 47 RBI still gives reason to believe that he can revert back to that form. However, from 2020 through this season, Aquino hit just 13 combined home runs and struck out 116 times in 262 at-bats (44.3 percent of the time) while slashing .164/.271/.347. Those are numbers that simply aren’t sustainable in MLB.

With the Reds needing a roster spot for pitcher Connor Overton, who drew the start in Colorado on Saturday, Aquino was the odd man out.

“It’s a tough day, really for our whole clubhouse,” Bell said. “He (Aquino) has been such a big part of our team.

“We still believe in him as a player,” Bell added. “He’s going to get another opportunity, I believe, in the Major Leagues somewhere. It could turn out that he would end up back here in our organization and we would welcome him back for sure.”

Whether it’s with the Reds or another team, Aquino will likely get another shot to resurrect his MLB career. However, until he can cut down on the strikeouts, it will be hard for him to be a contributor, let alone stick on a roster for an extended period.