Aguilar looks like natural at hot corner
Christina De Nicola
@cdenicola13PHILADELPHIA -- When Jesús Aguilar stepped up to the plate Tuesday night to lead off the ninth inning of the Marlins' 4-3 loss to the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park, he was introduced as the third baseman.
"I was like, 'Hey, that's me!'" recalled Aguilar, who would go on to single. "You've got to do what you've got to do in this game. That's how I think."
In the eighth inning, Aguilar appeared at the hot corner for just the 11th time in his eight-year MLB career. With shortstop Miguel Rojas not at the ballpark because he was sick and manager Don Mattingly using two pinch-hitters in the top half of the frame, Miami's first baseman moved across the diamond. Aguilar spent one inning at third base in 2020, but he did not have to make a play.
That wasn't the case in the series opener. With a runner at first and two outs in the eighth, Ronald Torreyes sent a slow grounder to third. Torreyes, an above-average runner, was going down the line with a sprint speed of 28 feet per second (27 is average). So Aguilar charged the ball and barehanded it, with a 0.70-second exchange and a 71.3-mph sidearm throw to first for the final out.
"You have to [be aware of the situation], because if not, you're going to be in trouble with the game," Aguilar said. "You've got to know who's running. Even if it's a good runner, you've got to know if he likes to hustle or not, because that can be a big difference in the game. But yeah, you've got to pay attention to those little details."
After making the play, Aguilar tipped his cap and high-stepped to the dugout in glee. Anthony Bass waved his towel in his direction, while Pablo L¨®pez was there to greet him.
Mattingly called it an emergency situation to use Aguilar at third base, though he has been taking grounders there during batting practice this season.
"We've talked about this a number of times with him, internally," Mattingly said. "He's got plenty of arm for that. He actually has really good hands. I think he could actually play there on a regular basis. I thought obviously [he] made a nice play, barehand play. He looks like he's been over there before. ... Obviously it was one inning, but the play was a nice play."