Spring Training 2010
Chapman feels good in return
By C. Trent Rosecrans, CNATI.com Posted March 28, 2010 3:32 PM ET
GOODYEAR, Ariz. -- In his first outing since suffered muscle spasms on April 22, Reds left-hander Aroldis Chapman threw 19 pain-free pitches for the Reds' Class AAA minor leaguers against Milwaukee.
Chapman allowed a hit and struck out two in one inning of work.
"I feel like I did before, good, really good," Chapman said after his outing through interpreter Tomas Vera, the trainer at Class AAA Louisville.
Chapman threw 12 strikes, including a slider to strike out Milwauke's Trent Oeltjen. The rest of his 11 strikes were fastballs. He hit 97 several times on the radar gun. The hit was a single by Lorenzo Cain up the middle by the diving attempt by the Reds' shortstop. Chapman got two strikes on each of the hitters he faced, and was never behind more than 1-0 in the count against any batter. He did attempt two pickoff moves to keep Cain close at first.
In his last outing, Chapman was taken out of the game after 1.2 innings last Monday because of muscle spasms in his back.
On Sunday, Chapman said he was fine and that he could have thrown more innings, but the Reds made that decision.
"I feel good about it, I could throw more innings, it was only two days that I missed throwing," Chapman said.
Before Sunday's appearance, Reds manager Dusty Baker said today would be a barometer for Chapman.
"Just to see how he is," Baker said of the outing. "If he's good, we're good. If not, we'll adjust."
With today's successful outing, Chapman's next scheduled time to pitch is Wednesday. Beyond that, there's still several questions.
Reds pitching coach Bryan Price has said Chapman is still in contention for the fifth starter's spot, but this recent set-back has made it seem less likely. Instead, that position is between Travis Wood and Mike Leake. Both Leake and Wood are scheduled to pitch on Wednesday, as well.
"I've been told Opening Day is important to the city of Cincinnati, I hope I can be there and part of the team at that time, but it's not my decision," Chapman said.
Categories: Cincinnati Reds, Featured Stories, Spring Training 2010, Video
Tags: Aroldis Chapman, Mike Leake, Tomas Vera, Travis Wood
Comments (0)