PITTSBURGH, PA – In a recent game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the LA Dodgers Pirates reliever Aroldis Chapman was brought in to pitch a fresh inning. Nobody on base, get three outs, don’t give up a run and your job is done.
The big news of Chapman’s appearance was he hit 104 mph on the radar gun a few times during his one inning of work. The ANALysts marveled how the 36-year-old Chapman threw the fastest pitch of the season. They didn’t mention that a couple of those missile throws were way up in the batters zone, and they were recorded as a ball instead of a strike.
The end result for Chapman’s appearance was 1 inning pitched, 2 hits, 1 earned run and 2 strikeouts. Everyone centered on the 104 mph throw, but in all reality, Chapman didn’t do his job. His ERA for that game was 9.00. His 2 hits given up brings back the line of “The harder you throw it, the harder they hit it.” I’m more impressed with the two batters who got the hits off Chapman. Nobody gave props to Freddie Freeman and Will Smith.
There was no mention if Chapman won a stuffed teddy bear for his hardest throw! Just another example of, “Results don’t matter.” This is the current rend of Major League Baseball and what it has turned into, a skills competition.
Feel free to drop a dime below and come back tomorrow for Junoir Blaber, who is worried sick about Aaron Rodgers.
