Today we’re going to kick off what has been a fun series in the past where we take a look back at the longest home runs hit by the Cincinnati Reds during the most recent season. We’ll be counting down the Top 10 for the 2021 season once a week until we get to spring training (if it starts on time – fingers crossed).
The 10th longest home run of the season in 2021 by a Red was on August 16th from Aristides Aquino. It was the 5th inning when The Punisher obliterated a pitch from Chicago Cubs reliever Michael Rucker.
The Video
The Metrics Behind The Blast
A 91.9 MPH change up from Michael Rucker came in fast (for a change up) and left in a hurry. 91.9 MPH in and 113.5 MPH out. During the big league season Rucker threw 211 pitches to right-handed hitters. Only four of them were change ups. He didn’t throw another change up to a right-handed hitter until October 2nd – his final appearance of the season. Aristides Aquino broke his mindset with the change up with this home run.
Distance Metrics
Distance: 442 Feet
Reds Rank: 10th (tie)
Major League Baseball Rank: 307th (tie)
Aristides Aquino Rank (2021): 1st
Other Metrics
Launch Angle: 21°
Exit Velocity: 113.5 MPH
Reds Exit Velocity Rank (home runs only): 2nd (tie) out of 222
MLB Exit Velocity Rank (home runs only): 111th (tie) out of 5935
The Story Behind The Blast
Chicago had brought Rucker in to replace starting pitcher Justin Steele in the bottom of the 5th inning. After back-to-back strikeouts to begin the inning, Rucker walked Eugenio Suárez and the old saying that walks will haunt held true this time as Aristides Aquino punished the ball into the night before ricocheting off of the upper deck in left-center. The home run extended the Reds lead to 4-0 and was the start of a rough night for Rucker who allowed four earned runs in just 2.0 innings on a night when Cincinnati blew out the Cubs 14-5.
You can follow along the entire series here
I like AA 🙂
Wish he could provide some consistency. It was so much fun rooting for him when he was destroying baseballs and records.
I actually believe over a full season he would.
Man o man what potential this guy has. Hope he figures it out this year, in a Reds uniform.
AA has the overall talent for the outfield but offensive consistency is not there.
2021….. Jeeze, Doug. (Originally had the article titled 2019….)
Sorry to be a downer here and I appreciate that there are fans of the information and research that Doug has collected. It is a rather comprehensive compendium of analytics and background for one swing of the bat.
However, this just serves to remind me of the two principal reasons I will cease following this team after the Opening Day traditional ceremony. Sadak: “Aquino BOOMS it, a two-out, two-run tater”, his nonstop juvenile blather and hyperbolic nonsense makes a mostly contemplative, cerebral game more like flag football; David Bell: With all his ‘analytical genius’ I can just picture him salivating over these rankings, angles, velocities, etc. I hope it is just for entertainment value but I am not so sure that critical game decisions and trades are made on this and hundreds of similar data points. How has that worked out over the past 3 years?
How far did it travel? I can’t seem to find that information in the article. Am I missing it?
it’s “hidden” in the picture
442 feet.
I am having a rough day on this one…..
Thanks everyone. I see it now in black letters of the photo. I looked and looked and couldn’t find it.
I’m an idiot and didn’t, SOMEHOW, include that information in the original version of the article.
It was a rough night last night as I was typing this up…. even though I didn’t notice it was a rough night at the time.
It will be interesting to see if Aquino is the platoon partner in RF with Naquin.
Speaking of long Home runs, it’s amazing that Shogo Akiyama hit 94 home runs in 2015-19 in Japan yet has 0 HR over 2 years and 365 PA in MLB.
With the lockout and Akiyama in his last year, could Akiyama leave MLB and return/sign with a team in Japan and get on with his future? He has no future in MLB. He made about $2 million his last year in Japan and at some point as the lockout progresses, he may be better off going back to Japan if the lockout drags on and he’s not making any money. What are players obligations to a team if they are being locked out?
If there is a lockout, he could return to play in Japan until the lockout is up.
Unfortunately, there’s not a lot to write about out there right now. I applaud Doug for keeping the content coming and trying to keep his customers engaged. Got to be hard in a lock out. I suspect fans everywhere are disengaging. And that’s not good for baseball. Me, I’m reading Understanding Sabermetrics: An Introduction to the Science of Baseball Statistics, by Costa, Huber, and Saccoman (3 college professors). Not particularly rigorous but reinforces the fact that “analytics” are descriptive statistics (at least through the middle of the book – maybe something will change). This article melds well with my current reading and tends to reinforce @DataDumpster post above.
From a personal/business standpoint, this lockout truly sucks. I make a majority of my income from ad revenue. December historically has the highest ad rates (trying to sell stuff for Christmas means companies pay way more for ads in November and December than any other time of the year). The hot stove rumors, signings, trades – those things are also the biggest trafficked stories we have all year long. The lockout shuts all of that stuff down. Ad rates are still good, but traffic disappears.
With that said, I purposefully held off on certain types of articles that I would have started earlier in the offseason in years past, but knew that the chances were good that there would be a lockout and not nearly as much to talk about for a while, leaving big gaps in stories. So I kept this series, as well as some other series “in the bag” so I could begin them *now-ish* and hopefully still have something on a daily basis, or close to it.
A good reminder of the ramifications associated with a work stoppage. It hurts more than just the players and owners.
I appreciate the tough position you are in. Even for us with no skin in the game, we hunger for news on our favorite game. How can we support you in a time like this. I would be willing to send a modest donation for your work. I think anyone who regularly comments on this site should do so even though most of us are probably not interested in the Patreon monthly offer for minor league news (especially now). Is there way to send some “appreciation” your way through Paypal or other means?
Thank you for keeping some semblance of Baseball alive. Maybe you should sell subscriptions.
To help Doug visit site multiple times a day, click ads, buy something, more importantly join Patreon to create a reliable income steam for him. Support him like we wish Bob supported Reds’ fans. Two bad winters in a row could be the bell that tolls in Doug’s head that says no more because there has to be a better way to make a living. If you like RLN, do something to support it.
why doesn’t someone star a go fund me account for Doug? If we each contributed $100 bucks, I think we could sustain him at a marginal level until the lockout ends.