The beginning of the 2012 baseball season has seen two
highly hyped international players live up to expectations: Yu Darvish from Japan,
and the Cuban left-hander Aroldis Chapman. Darvish, a starting pitcher for the
Texas Rangers, has gotten his due attention, starting 6-1 with an impressive
2.60 ERA and 58 strikeouts in 52 IP. But Aroldis Chapman has flown somewhat under
the radar, and when you hear what he has done so far, you may consider tuning in
to some Cincinnati Reds baseball – or at least checking out his highlights on YouTube.
Chapman is known for his blistering fastball, which has been
clocked at a major league record 105 MPH. It’s not like that speed is a one-time
occurrence, either. In 2010 against
the Orioles, Chapman threw 25
straight pitches over 100 MPH. And according to Fan
Graphs, in 2012, he has thrown 355 fastballs at an average velocity of over
97 MPH.
If your jaw hasn’t dropped yet, get ready for his stats thus
far in 2012: in 21.1 innings, Chapman has racked up 38 strikeouts, only 7
walks, and opposing teams are hitting 0.099 against him. He has allowed a
mere 14 baserunners total. You’re probably wondering what his ERA is, right?
Aroldis Chapman is sporting a clean 0.00 ERA. No earned runs. Zero, zip, zilch,
nada. (He does have an unearned run, however.)
We may only be in mid-May, but you can see for yourself in
his highlights – hitters barely even stand a chance against this guy. It’s
surprising the catcher can even catch the ball. Chapman has nasty off-speed
pitches, as well – if you can call a 93 MPH change-up “off-speed.” His 5:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio is
incredible considering how hard he throws because understandably, it is
difficult to control such high velocity pitches. Even the great Nolan Ryan was
known for being “effectively wild.”
The only worry is that he goes the way of many of the other
100 MPH pitchers – and that’s to the disabled list. After all, he is testing
the limits of the human body. As pointed out in this
article, tests have shown that the “amount of torque needed to throw [just
over 100 MPH] is greater than the amount of force the ulnar collateral ligament…can
withstand before giving out.” If the arm speed a 100 MPH pitch requires could
be held for just one second, a pitcher’s arm would spin around 24 times.
Although the rest of the league may be thinking otherwise,
the Cincinnati Reds certainly hope their flame-throwing new lefty can remain
healthy and help them compete with the Pujols-less Cardinals for the NL Central
title.
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