Aristides Aquino Signs With NPB’s Chunichi Dragons

[Ron Madden]

Aquino Signs With NPB’s Chunichi Dragons

Outfielder Aristides Aquino has signed with the Chunichi Dragons of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, reports Jon Morosi of MLB Network. It’s Aquino’s first stint overseas, who had previously spent parts of the last five seasons with the Cincinnati Reds.

Aquino, 28, made his debut during the 2018 season, earning a single at-bat, before reaching free agency and re-signing on a minor league deal with the Reds. He would eventually join the team in a more permanent role during the 2019 season, slashing .259/.316/.576 with 19 homers in 205 at-bats while posting serviceable strikeouts (26.7%) and walk (7.1%) rates. During that stretch, the right-handed hitter hit 13 homers in his first 100 plate appearances, setting an MLB record.

His success soon faded, and Aquino would spend the 2020 season bouncing between the major league club and the Reds’ alternative training site. More recently, Aquino hit a weak .194/.269/.381 with 20 homers across the 2021 and 2022 seasons (433 at-bats) with a poor 36.7% strikeout rate and a strong 9.2% walk rate. He was designated for assignment two weeks ago, as the Reds’ adjuted their 40-Man roster ahead of the Rule 5 Draft.

It’s possible that Aquino has a strong enough performance in Japan to draw some new major league interest in the future, for it was only a few seasons ago that he hit showcased his immense power. Nevertheless, he will now turn to the Dragons as an outfield option with a career .300/.374/.644 line at the Triple-A level.

Hector Gomez of Z101 Digital adds that Aquino’s deal is one-year, $1.2MM with an additional $300K of possible incentives
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https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2022/...i-dragons.html

[NC Reds]

Godspeed Aristides. I hope he tears it up over there (and returns to a different MLB team).

[westofyou]

This was such an obvious career path, it's been on the horizon for two years

[757690]

[Roy Tucker]

Best of luck to the young man.

[CySeymour]

Maybe Shogo can show him around Japan

[mth123]

A match made in heaven. He'll be a star over there.

[Sea Ray]

So what kind of money will he be making over there?

[UKFlounder]

Japanese yen.

So what kind of money will he be making over there?

[mth123]

So what kind of money will he be making over there?

One year $1.2 Million with incentives for another $300K.

[Ron Madden]

So what kind of money will he be making over there?

It tells you in the first post of this thread Aquino’s deal is one-year, $1.2MM with an additional $300K of possible incentives
.

[Ron Madden]

Gomez is reporting that Aquino will play for the Chunichi Dragons of Nippon Professional Baseball, the highest level of baseball in Japan. According to Gomez, the contract is worth one-year, $1.2 million, plus a $300,000 bonus.

Aquino was not tendered a contract by the Reds prior to the deadline to tender arbitration eligible players contracts last week, making him a free agent.

Aquino made his presence felt early in his big league career, becoming the first rookie in the modern era to hit 10 home runs in his first 16 career games, in 2019.

Over five years with the Reds, Aquino slashed .211/.285/.719 with 41 home runs and 108 RBI in 244 games.
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https://www.si.com/fannation/mlb/fas...-club-for-2023

[texasdave]

パニッシャー

[OldFashionedRed]

I wish it would have worked out here for him. He was really happy in his debut.

[cumberlandreds]

I wish him well. He seemed like a very likable person. Just didn't work out on the MLB level for him.