It was only a week ago that critics were wondering what was wrong with Reds reliever Aroldis Chapman. The flame-throwing southpaw typically hits triple digits with his pitches, but he was only throwing in the low-90s consistently making people think he had magically lost his fastball. After a few days off to rest his arm because of inflammation, he was back to normal Monday night.
The stadium scoreboard had Chapman touching 106 mph on a pitch to Andrew McCutchen, while the TV had the pitch at 105 mph and Pitch F/X for MLB.com had it at 102. I have little doubt the stadium scoreboard was giving out a juiced up rating to produce a more intimidating effect but there’s no question that Chapman can throw smoke.
We got excited when Chapman clocked 102 a year ago, and we were pumped up when he hit 105 in the minors. When Aroldis hit 105.1 mph in a major league game in San Diego, we knew it was no fluke. The only problem is like Jimmy Traina said, Chapman may need to update the tattoo on his wrist after his 106 mph pitch.
