The Chattanooga Lookouts’ Ibandel Isabel fouls off a pitch during a game against the Mississippi Braves on April 19 at AT&T Field.With Major League Baseball teams hitting home runs at a record-high rate of 1.36 per game entering Thursday, the long ball continues to be on the rise as part of the game.
Since arriving in the Cincinnati Reds organization on April 19, 2018, Ibandel Isabel has been one of the premier power hitters in all of minor league baseball.
Counting his previous stop in Dayton, Ohio, the Chattanooga Lookouts’ Dominican Republic-born slugger has 54 home runs and 128 RBIs in his past 600 at-bats. That included a ninth-inning homer and all of the team’s RBIs in Thursday night’s 7-3 home loss to the Tennessee Smokies. No other player in the minors has as many homers in that span.
Isabel’s 36 home runs in 2018 tied for the minor league lead with Peter Alonso, who is now a National League rookie of the year candidate with the New York Mets.
“My power comes natural,” said the 6-foot-4, 225-pound Isabel, who was the Reds’ minor league player of the year last season. “I hit a ball with an exit velocity of 119 miles per hour once and a few over 118. I am that power-type player who can hit 40 home runs in a full season.”
Since exit velocity started being tracked, only the New York Yankees’ trio of Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez and Giancarlo Stanton have reached 120 mph or more, with Stanton’s 122.2 in 2017 still a record.
Isabel’s literal light-tower power was displayed in Wednesday’s day game against the Smokies as he hit a 421-foot home run over the AT&T Field scoreboard in close proximity to the left-field lights. It was his fourth homer in his seventh game back since returning from a 17-day stay on the injured list, and he made it five in eight games with Thursday’s late two-run blast that stretched his hitting streak to eight games.
With 19 homers and 50 RBIs in 60 games played, Isabel leads the Southern League in both categories.
However, while hitting a home run every 11.1 at-bats over his time with Cincinnati’s high-A and Double-A affiliates, he is working on improving his strikeout rate of just more than 40% and a walk rate less than 7% in 2019. He’s batting .246.
“I have kept a positive attitude. I am working on my contact and being more selective at the plate,” the 24-year-old said. “I definitely look up to a big-leaguer like Joey Votto and tried to learn some things from him at spring training. I work hard with my teammates and coaches here, too.”
Isabel feels at home with the Reds and is grateful to be able to shoot for the dreams he had as a young child.
“When you grow up in the Dominican, the game of baseball is one everyone loves,” he said. “You want to be just like some of the major league players who came from here. It means everything to be here.”
Contact Patrick MacCoon at pmaccoon@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @PMacCoon.