Aroldis fans Machado on 104.7 mph heat … and it wasn’t fastest pitch of AB!
Alex Stumpf
PITTSBURGH — Even 15 years into his Major League career, the Cuban Missile can still do things no other pitcher can. Case in point, a two-pitch sequence on Wednesday night during which Aroldis Chapman recorded pitches of 105.1 and 104.7 mph, the latter being a called third strike to complete a scoreless eighth inning.
“I think with Chap, you just know that you never know what you’re going to see,” manager Derek Shelton said after the Pirates’ 9-8 loss in 10 innings to the Padres.
San Diego managed to get two runners on base with one out in a one-run game, but the hard-throwing lefty was able to strike out Xander Bogaerts and Manny Machado to preserve the Pirates’ lead.
After striking out Machado, Chapman struck a pose and stared him down before going to the Pirates’ dugout.
“Just something he told me,” Chapman explained, via interpreter and coach Stephen Morales. “And then when he said it, I started laughing.”
Something like?
“Something,” Chapman said with a grin.
Fair enough. Let the pitch do the talking.
No pitcher besides Chapman has thrown a pitch 105.1 mph or harder in the pitch tracking era (since 2008), and Chapman himself hasn’t thrown a harder pitch since July 22, 2016, when he threw 105.2 mph against the Giants. The 104.7 mph third strike to Machado is tied with Ben Joyce — who also hit 104.7 mph to retire J.D. Martinez on Aug. 3 — for the hardest strikeout pitch in the pitch tracking era.
It’s another example of why Chapman belongs in the discussion of the game’s best lefty relievers — he passed Billy Wagner for the most strikeouts for a southpaw reliever earlier this season — and how he can still wow this deep into his career. He’s been clicking of late, with that velocity and better control coming in tandem. Since the All-Star break, Chapman has allowed just one run over eight innings, striking out 13.
“It feels good to be in that spot right now,” Chapman said. “I struggled a little bit earlier in the season. And as a pitcher … you just want to be ahead in counts and attacking the strike zone, and I think I’m in a pretty good spot right now.”
Now a decade and a half into his Major League career, it doesn’t look like Chapman is slowing down.
“I think I’ve had a long career already,” Chapman said. “I don’t think I need to show people what I can do, because I’ve done it already for many years. I don’t think I have to show anything else anymore.”
