Kyle Farmer said Saturday that he has goals set for himself in 2022. Among them? “Instead of a certain average - hard-hit balls, barreled balls," Farmer said.
You can count Farmer's line-drive homer Saturday night among that description. During the Reds’ 6-3 win over the Padres, Votto also added a pair of RBI hits, the first of which was a scalded double down the right-field line.
Votto followed that up Sunday with a gargantuan blast in the second inning of Cincinnati's 15-4 win over Arizona at Salt River Fields that went a Statcast-projected 465 feet after coming off the bat at 111.9 mph. His second at-bat resulted in an RBI double that was sizzled to right field at 107.8 mph.
“He’s really committed to getting off to a good start,” Reds manager David Bell said. “Seeing that happen for him is just impressive. Everything about him, everything he does is impressive.”
The hardest-hit ball of Sunday belonged to outfielder Aristides Aquino, who stamped his mark in pursuit of an Opening Day roster spot by clubbing a grand slam in the second that had a 114.9 mph exit velocity. Tommy Pham and Cristian Santana also each hit a home run as Cincinnati delivered its highest scoring output of Cactus League play.
“Joey and Moose have a lot of power, and so does India, so I think it’s going to be a lot of fun to watch,” Farmer said of the team’s power potential entering 2022.
“That Kyle Farmer and Nick Senzel are at the bottom, it says a lot about the rest of the guys,” Bell said. “It’s a lineup that gets on base. Clearly, there’s guys in the middle of the order that can drive ‘em in, and hopefully we can start that process back over at the bottom of the order. I would say it’s a well-balanced lineup.”