Chicago Cubs: Noted Cub killer signs with Chunichi Dragons

Chicago Cubs fans can sigh a bit of relief today as former Cincinnati Reds outfielder Aristides Aquino has signed a one-year deal with the Chunichi Dragons, per Jon Morosi.

Aquino, 28, spent his MLB career up-and-down between the Majors and Minors, hitting .211/.285/.434 with 41 home runs and 255 strikeouts in 244 games with the Reds. He showed some tremendous raw power, hitting some absolute tanks in his time with the Reds, but there were a lot of holes in the swing at the MLB level. Why does this concern the Chicago Cubs? Because he absolutely destroyed Cubs' pitching.

In 31 games against the Cubs, Aquino slashed .280/.346/.710 with 12 home runs, 66 total bases, an OPS of 1.056 and 26 RBI.

Aquino had far and away more home runs, total bases, and RBI against the Cubs than any other opponent. 29% of his career home runs were off a Cubs pitcher. To nobody's surprise, Aquino's first career multi-home run game was against...you guessed it, the Cubs. It was a three-homer game at Great American Ballpark on August 10, 2019, in a 10-1 loss. The next opponent he hit the most home runs against was the Pittsburgh Pirates, with a total of six.

Even in 2022 when Aquino hit just .197/.246/.363 with 10 homers in 80 games, he still slashed just .270/.308/.730 with five home runs against the Cubs. He had two multi-homer games against the Cubs last year, one at Wrigley Field and one at Great American Ballpark.

Aquino will now be out of the Cubs' hair. He has the opportunity to absolutely mash in Japan. As mentioned earlier he has incredible raw power. He was the quickest player to reach nine home runs in MLB history in 2019, earning the nickname "The Punisher". Certainly wish him the best, but Cubs fans will not miss facing him one bit.