admin“Cuban Missile” Aroldis Chapman (35-Texas Rangers) showed off his athleticism in his Texas Rangers debut, unleashing a fastball that topped out at 100 mph (163 km/h).
Chapman threw one inning of one-hit ball with two strikeouts in his Texas debut against the Houston Astros on Wednesday (March 3) at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas.
Chapman took the mound as the team’s third pitcher in the top of the seventh inning with the score tied 1-1, and he struck out leaders Chas McCormick and Martin Maldonado on consecutive pitches. McCormick used a slider at 1B-2S to induce a wild swing, and then threw a 101.6 mph (163 km/h) fastball to Maldonado for a three-pitch wild swing strikeout. He then gave up a single to Jose Altuve, but got Alex Bregman to ground out to second base to end the threat.
Chapman, still 1-1, gave way to Josh Svoboda in the eighth to close out his Texas debut. He threw 16 pitches (11 for strikes). He looked like his old self with a 101.6 mph sinker and a 99.8 mph four-seam fastball. Unfortunately, the team lost 3-5.
Chapman is a 14-year old left-handed fireballer who made his major league debut in 2010 with the Cincinnati Reds. He made waves in 2011, his second year, when he threw a fastball that reached 106 miles per hour (170 kilometers per hour) and became one of the league’s best closers, recording 30 saves in every year from 2012 to 2019 except 2017 (22 saves). He reached the 30-save plateau again in 2021 with the New York Yankees. Chapman has 317 saves in his major league career.
Last year, he struggled with aging velocity and an Achilles tendon injury, going 4-4 with a 4.46 ERA in 43 games with nine saves and one shutout. He signed a one-year, $3.75 million deal with the American League Central underdog Kansas City Royals and was cruising to a 4-2 record with two saves and a 2.45 ERA in 31 games before being swiftly traded to first-place Texas in the West for a one-game championship.토스카지노
Texas is in first place in the American League West (50-34) and is a contender for the division title. It will be interesting to see if Chapman can repay the team’s faith and become a “championship hitter. It’s a refreshing start.