Aroldis Chapman Resting With Arm Fatigue

Then his velocity dipped. The short fastball was accompanied with unbelievable wildness; there’s a difference between Rick Vaughn wildness and Steve Blass. Chapman walked 12 of the 19 batters he faced in four outings between April 30 and May 15 last season. He went on the Disabled List with shoulder inflammation less than 24 hours after his pitching coach said he was “fine.” Our own Rob Neyer used the term “Dontrelle Willis” in an article about him. There are rules about using that comp in a baseball article, and they’re explicitly laid out in the Geneva Convention. But it fit. Man, how it fit.

At that point, we were in a little bit of a weird spot. That kind of story usually doesn’t have a happy ending. It usually ends with the pitcher’s labrum escaping through his nose and calling the police. Sure enough, Chapman went to the minors on a “rehab assignment,” and he was abysmal.

Christina De Nicola of MLB.com reports that the 24-year-old Cuban hurler is trying to overcome fatigue in his left arm, an unwelcome symptom he started feeling two outings ago.

The southpaw says he has experienced fatigue two or three times before, most recently in 2011. He has worked in 17⅔ innings over his career high. He stated the obvious in the MLB.com article, nothing this is not the best time to experience arm fatigue.