Aroldis Chapman’s Gas Blew Up MLB.com
Baseball has known few elements like the fire that is an Aroldis Chapman fastball.
The aptly-named Cuban Missile has the ability to bring heat the likes of which MLB has never seen.
In his six seasons to date, Cincinnati's closer has broken a slew of MLB records, including:
- Delivering the fastest pitch in MLB history;
- Becoming the fastest pitcher to reach 500 strikeouts; and
- Having the most consecutive relief appearances with a strikeout.
Chapman made sure to showcase his stuff during this season’s All-Star Game.
In the ninth inning, dude punched out Brock Holt, Mike Moustakas and Mark Teixeria on 14 pitches. And that’s not even the astounding part.
Of those 14 pitches, an incredible 12 left vapor trails at 100mph or more.
Chapman’s record shattering took a turn towards cyberspace this week, as his gas also broke MLB.com’s Statcast.
That site allows fans to track a variety of league data, such as home-run distance and fastest pitches. It's not uncommon for one player to hold several spots on the list, but Chapman has taken that to a whole new level.
Dude currently has the top 101 fastest pitches this season.
Believe it or not, for the sake of diversity, MLB decided to create a Chapman filter, which eliminates all of the Cuban’s pitches. Now, mortals like Bruce Rondon and Ken Giles have a chance of receiving some form of recognition.
Too bad the Reds are in the tank yet again this season.
What could be better than seeing Chapman throw a 105mph heater to clinch a World Series?
So the slingin' southpaw rules the diamond and warped a website. Now, all he needs to remember is police radars don't exactly reward high numbers.