So, if you haven’t been living under a rock you have probably heard by now that Aroldis Chapman pitched yesterday for the Reds and apparently threw pretty well. The game was not on the radio or TV, but there were plenty of reporters and scouts there to witness the game. There was one report of Chapman hitting 102 on a scouts gun, though C Trent tried to confirm it and couldn’t. John Fay did get two scouts to say they had 100 MPH though. If this kid can throw strikes and stay healthy, its hard to see him not just flat out dominating teams for a long time. I haven’t been this excited about a prospect since Jay Bruce.
You can read more Chapman stuff all over the internets, but here are some links from the local guys:
- CNati and C Trent have up an article here on Chapman hitting 100.
- Mark Sheldon gives his take on Chapman’s performance from today.
- John Fay also has his take on Chapman here where he says “Go ahead and get excited” and in another piece here.
So yeah, there is just a little buzz about the kid from Cuba.
There were also some games played today by our boys. The “A” game has a box score, so here is how the prospects performed in that game:
- Danny Dorn went 1-1 with a walk, HR, 2 runs and 2 RBI.
- Chris Heisey went 0-2.
- Aroldis Chapmanthrew 2 innings, 1 hit, 1 walk, 3 strikeouts and no runs.
- Pedro Viola allowed 2 runs in 1 inning with 2 walks and a strikeout.
John Fay has some information on the “B” game on his blog. Jordan Smith allowed 1 earned in 2 innings, Ondrusek and Del Rosario each threw a scoreless inning and Valiquette allowed (or didn’t allow?) two unearned runs in the game.
Jason Stella has an article up at the Louisville Bats site on Travis Wood. Go give it a read.
I just saw this over at Redszone.com and thought I should share it here because its pretty interesting. Jamie Ramsey has a picture on his blog of Aroldis Chapman pitching. Look at the Reds bench in the photo and remember that this is the first week of games in spring training.