Aroldis Chapman Signs Extension with Boston Red Sox

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00:00He signed a one plus one extension with the Boston Red Sox a couple of days ago.

00:05Aroldis Chapman is going to be in Boston, and that is because Aroldis Chapman could very well

00:09be the best reliever in Major League Baseball this season. Chapman is, and I say this not

00:16hyperbolically, unbelievable. Yes. 37 years old. This guy debuted in the big leagues on August 31st,

00:252010. We are just a couple days beyond his 15-year anniversary of his Major League debut,

00:33and Aroldis Chapman is putting together by ERA the best year of his career. In 53 innings,

00:41as we record, he's got a 1.02 ERA. 53 innings pitched, six earned runs. He's punched out 76,

00:50which is 13 per nine. He's walked just 14. This guy in his career is walking four and a half hitters

00:58per nine. Last year, he walked six hitters per nine. He's cut that in more than half. And oh,

01:04by the way, in 53 innings of work, opponents are hitting 117 against him, and he hasn't allowed a

01:10base hit, a base hit, in five weeks. I would ask you what you've seen from this guy, but it's just

01:18alien life form throws baseball harder than anyone, and he's done it for 15 freaking years.

01:25And throwing more strikes than ever, as you alluded to the walk rate, but 70% strike rate with that

01:30stuff is just incredible. And it's a complete arsenal now. I almost want to see him start

01:36again. I'm looking at a four-seamer sinker, and both of those are at a 70% strike rate. And then

01:42you've got this sweeper that he's added that has been otherworldly. And then the split that he

01:48added a couple of years ago that he's commanding as well. All of them have a strike rate north of

01:5265%. I would love to, obviously at 37 years old, you're not doing that, but like, this is the guy

02:00that was a, once a starter, they moved to the bullpen because he didn't throw enough strikes.

02:04And you also thought, oh, wow. What if we get a hundred, you know, for an inning spurt from the left

02:10side, he could be one of the best coaches in the game. And he has been, uh, but now it's like,

02:14this is, this is the, the complete, complete arsenal that I don't know if we ever imagined

02:18we'd see. So it's just amazing to see him continue to evolve as he progresses in his career. And the

02:23fact that he has allowed five extra base sets, the entire season is outrageous. And almost 200

02:28plate appearances opponents are slugging one 70 against him this year. It's one of the more

02:34incredible seasons. I think we've seen from a reliever in a while, and especially reliever in his late

02:40thirties. Uh, and, and I think really, really exciting for Red Sox fans to already have him,

02:45you know, extended through next year. And, uh, I mean, this is your guy and this is in the post

02:51season right now, if they make it, I don't know who I'd trust more than a role as Chapman right now,

02:56because when he's not walking anybody and you don't have to worry about the long ball right now,

03:00like how do you beat this guy? I don't even know. He's not beating himself and you have to just

03:05pray that you run into a home run. You don't beat this guy right now because you're not getting

03:11base hits against him again. It's been over a month and he's been pitching. There's no I else

03:17didn't hear. There's no elongated rest here. He's been pitching on regular rest and he has yet to

03:23allow a base hit in five weeks. July 23rd was his last base hit. I heard this great snippet from

03:30Buster Olney on a podcast and Buster was saying there was this epiphany for Chapman.

03:37Connor Wong, instead of setting up over the heart of the plate and saying, okay,

03:40or all this just like has been happening for the last 14 years of your career,

03:44I'm going to set up over the heart of the plate and I'm going to let you just throw your fastball

03:48as hard as you can. And you see where it goes. Wong has started giving Chapman spots. And apparently

03:54that has been the key to the command revival for all this Chapman it's huh. Shoot inside.

04:00And Chapman is shooting inside and he's inside. It's funny because it sounds so simple. And you

04:05say, what do you mean? This is the first time anyone's ever tried giving him a spot to hit.

04:09Maybe, maybe the first time in a while, because you've got 105 in the back pocket.

04:14Just go ahead and throw that and wherever it is, he'll be, it will take it. It is really interesting

04:20to me that a simple spot from a catcher could be the key to him cutting his walk rate in half in his age

04:2637 season.

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