In A Surprise To No One, Aristides Aquino Broke Another Rookie Home Run Record

It didn’t take long for Aristides Aquino to hit another home run and attach his name to yet another record. On an 0-1 pitch from Miami’s Robert Dugger, the Reds rookie smoked one into the stands in left for his 14th dinger of the month, officially breaking Cody Bellinger’s NL rookie record of 13 set in June 2017. This achievement comes just one day after Aquino became the first player in MLB history to hit 13 home runs in his first 27 career games and 100 plate appearances.

That crack of the bat made for a pretty sweet cherry on top of this moment, but this wouldn’t be a proper Aquino blog if there wasn’t more to it. Mark Sheldon of MLB.com reports that the homer also ties a club record for most home runs in a month by any player. Frank Robinson set the record in August 1962, and was only matched once, with Greg Vaughn doing it in September 1999.

Up next for Aquino is the Major League record for most rookie homers in a month, which Detroit’s Rudy York set back in August 1937 (huh, I’m sensing a theme here). Since speculating on whether he’ll achieve that mark would likely lead to a jinx of cataclysmic proportions, we’ll instead leave with you something less reckless: a comparison of Aquino and Barry Bonds through their first 27 games.

Pretty good!