One year later, former Blue Wahoos' Aquino is the buzz of baseball

One year ago Saturday, Aristides Aquino was called up from the Pensacola Blue Wahoos to join the Cincinnati Reds.
He was batting .249. Aquino had hit just three homers at that point in August. He wound up playing in one game for the Reds, had one at-bat, and struck out. He returned Aug. 27 to finish the 2018 season with the Blue Wahoos.
At that point, conventional wisdom had remained the same.
Great range in right field. Can make breathtaking catches. A cannon of an arm. Runs well. Engaging personality.
But the bat? Well, uh, work in progress. He was battling to lay off every outside breaking pitch he faced, which, of course, meant he faced a lot of them.
"He has always had the physical tools to launch balls," said Reds president of baseball operations Dick Williams, who visited Pensacola this week to take in the series between the Chattanooga Lookouts and Blue Wahoos. "It was just inconsistent to whether he would recognize the pitches and lay off the ones that weren't hittable."
That's happened.
Aquino, 25, a Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic native, is launching like no player before him in such short tenure in Major League Baseball history. Saturday night against St. Louis, he hit his 11th home run in 17 games to extend a record for reaching double-digit homers in the fewest games.
Aquino, who played in 245 games for the Blue Wahoos the past two years as the former Reds affiliate, went 0-for-2 in Sunday's 5-4 loss against the Cardinals.
But he walked twice in four at-bats and his average is .333 with a whopping 1.327 On-base plus slugging (OPS) percentage. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, he's the first player since at least 1900 to hit 11 home runs in his first 17 career games.
Let that settle. It has made Aquino one of the biggest storylines right now in professional baseball.
 "Around the clubhouse, we try not to talk about it too much, because we just want it to keep doing what's he doing," said Williams, who had been to Pensacola numerous times the past couple years when the Blue Wahoos were affiliated with the Reds. "So, you don't want to put too much focus on it.
"I think as soon as you think about it, then it will be harder to make it happen."
After Aquino blasted his 10th home run Friday against St. Louis, he hit a 3-run bomb in the fifth inning Saturday.
Aquino's slash line after Sunday's game is .333/.397/.930 with 11 extra base hits and 19 RBI. A year ago with the Blue Wahoos, Aquino finished 2018 with a .240 average, 20 homers, 55 RBI in 114 games.
"A big step for him was coming to major league spring training this year," Williams said. "And getting to know some of our coaches and our new major league hitting staff, Turner Ward and Donnie Ecker.
"Donnie, in particular, took more than a passing interest in Aquino because he saw the physical tools. Donnie really worked with him on changing his swing, his mental approach. Just to give him more time to recognize pitches. Have more confidence, trust himself.
"And really ever since then, it's been light's out."
Ward is a Mobile area native and University of South Alabama graduate, who managed the Mobile BayBears to a Southern League title in 2012 when the Blue Wahoos had their inaugural season.
Aquino's changed batting stance began showing improved results when training camp broke and Aquino began the season with Triple-A Louisville. Since being called up Aug. 1, he's been in another world.
"I think the stance has been huge," said Lookouts manager Pat Kelly, during his return to Pensacola for the Blue Wahoos' past homestand. Kelly managed Aquino in 2017 when the Blue Wahoos shared the Southern League co-championship with Chattanooga, then a Minnesota Twins affiliate.
"The opening up (in stance), the vision… it lets him see the ball a lot quicker and recognizing the breaking ball, recognize the ball that is not a strike and he's been able to lay off that," said Kelly, who managed the Blue Wahoos to post-season trips all three years (2015-17) as manager.
"I think being able to hit major league balls (same design) at the Triple-A level is a confidence thing. When you hit a ball good and it's out of the ballpark, it just builds your confidence.
"You hit that same ball in Pensacola and the centerfielder runs it down, you're like, man, I thought I hit it better than that. I think the combination of that has been huge."
In Triple-A, the league is using the same Rawlings baseballs that are being used in the major leagues. Home run numbers in the game have soared into an all-time record pace.
Double-A leagues use a different Rawlings baseball.
Blue Wahoos Stadium with its bayfront location, wind usually blowing in a variety of directions from Pensacola Bay and nearby Gulf of Mexico, along with thick humidity, is not known as a home run paradise.
So the 37 homers Aquino hit in two seasons with the Blue Wahoos may have increased in a different home ballpark. But as an 8-year-old franchise, Aquino is the latest in an impressive list of former players now in the big leagues.
Twins star infielder Luis Arraez played the first month and a half with the Blue Wahoos to start the 2019 season and new affiliation.
"It will be really interesting to see what happens (with Aquino) once the league starts to adjust to him," Williams said. "That's not uncommon for a young kid to come up and first time people see him, he gets the jump on some veteran pitchers and then the league starts to figure out what they need to do
"I do think he's in a better position now to handle that."