Marlins’ Jesus Aguilar is finally hitting home runs again. It’s the arepas, he says
After hitting home runs in each of the past two games, his first two of the season, Miami Marlins first baseman Jesus Aguilar admitted he made a simple adjustment that he feels has resulted in an uptick in his power at the plate the past couple days.
Don’t look at the field necessarily to find that adjustment (although he noted he’s made some minor mechanical fixes).
Instead, look at his plate.
“After 60 at-bats with no home runs,” Aguilar said Saturday, “I’m back with the arepas and all that kind of stuff from Venezuela.”
Some context might be needed here.
Back in spring training, Aguilar talked about how he changed up his diet in the offseason in an attempt to be in better shape.
He ate a lot more fish, fruits, salads and arugula while giving up his beloved arepas and rice.
The result: He came into camp at 277 pounds, eight pounds lighter than a year ago.
When asked at the time what his favorite salad was, the 6-3 Aguilar said: “I don’t really like it, but I have to do it.”
The slightly more slender Aguilar also knows he’s supposed to be a home-run hitter. He has the right mix of power and discipline and he’s supposed to be a catalyst in the heart of the Miami Marlins’ lineup. He had hit 71 home runs in 464 games over the past four years, including a career-best 35 during his All-Star season in 2018 with the Milwaukee Brewers.
But after going 17 games without hitting a ball out of the park to start this season, he knew a change needed to be made.
Hence, the return of the arepas.
Is it a coincidence? Maybe.
But Aguilar will take the results any way he can get them.
And he finally started seeing results the past couple days.
His two-run, ninth-inning home run on Friday — a 353-foot shot that clanked off the top of the left-field wall at Oracle Park in a 5-3 loss to the San Francisco Giants — ended a 3-for-20 skid over the past week.
His two-inning, ninth-inning home run on Saturday — a 407-foot line drive to left-center field that gave the Marlins the lead for good in a 5-2 victory over the Giants — came off the bat with a 110.6 mph exit velocity, the hardest hit ball of Saturday’s game and his hardest hit ball of the season according to Statcast.
“I’m just trying not to be overly aggressive at the plate,” Aguilar said. “It’s been hard, especially for me. I’m supposed to be a home-run hitter. Things are happening like they’re supposed to happen. ... We’ve just got to keep going.”
Three of Aguilar’s seven hardest-hit balls of the season — including a lineout in the first inning on Friday that had a 103.7 mph exit velocity — have come in the past two days.
“Agui is one of those guys that you know he’s gonna hit,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. “He knows he’s going to hit. They just get frustrated when they’re not. You could see it coming. The other day with the lineout and the homer and then today it was good.”
On the season, Aguilar has a team-high 15 RBI and 10 walks while hitting .281 with an .806 on-base-plus-slugging mark that ranks third on the team behind only Jazz Chisholm Jr. (.978) and Starling Marte (.912). He has also struck out just nine times in 76 plate appearances.
He understands that there’s even more need for him to produce at this point with Starling Marte, Brian Anderson and Jorge Alfaro on the injured list.
But internally, Aguilar said isn’t putting the pressure on himself.
“This game’s too hard already,” Aguilar said. “I try to go out there. I try to do my job. I try to push the guys. We’ve got a really good team, especially the pitchers. They’ve been doing an excellent job. I think we’re going to be all right. At some point, this thing’s going to go well.”
This story was originally published April 25, 2021 at 7:00 AM.
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