Is Aroldis Chapman injured, tired, bummed out, in the doghouse, attending childbirth, awaiting trial, on double-secret probation, or otherwise unavailable to pitch? I can’t find anything online to that effect, but consider the last 2 Reds losses:
- Aug. 8 — @Brewers 3, Reds 2 — Brewers reverse Cincy’s 1-run lead with 2 outs in the home 8th, on two separate RBI hits.
- Aug. 9 — @Cubs 5, Reds 3 — Bottom/8th, 1 out, Cubs break a tie on a 2-run HR.
Yet the most dominant pitcher in the world right now did not appear in either game. The man sporting the highest strikeout rate and lowest opponents’ batting average in MLB history has not pitched at all during Cincinnati’s 5-game losing streak.
In the first three games of the skid, the Reds trailed by 2 runs at the start of their foes’ last at-bat, so the leverage probably wasn’t worth using Chapman. But after giving him 3 days of rest, you have a 1-run lead, bottom-8th, 2 outs, tying run on 3rd and Jonathan Broxton on the hill (.276 opponents’ batting average) — why would you not summon Chapman and his .129 BA? And if not then, surely after Broxton gave up the tying hit and a steal to move the go-ahead run to 2nd for Ryan Braun. In 5 tries against Chapman, the Hebrew Hammer has a single and 3 whiffs, but he was 2 for 4 with a HR off Broxton before hitting the go-ahead double.
It can’t be about lefty/righty, can it? Yes, Chapman’s a lefty, and the guys who got the big hits were righties. But Chapman has held righties to a .138 BA this year and .164 for his career. The main principals Wednesday, Broxton and Carlos Gomez, both have no significant platoon differential for their careers and a reverse split this year. Alfonso Soriano, who hit the winning HR Thursday after Dusty Baker brought in the righty Logan Ondrusek, also has no significant platoon differential, while Ondrusek has fared worse against RHBs.
The Associated Press stories for these two late losses don’t even mention Chapman’s name. The MLB.com recap for Wednesday questions Broxton coming in for starter Mat Latos (97 pitches), but shows no such curiosity for why the most effective short reliever going could not be asked to get one “extra” out with the tying run on 3rd. Even the Cincy fanblogs I browsed weren’t asking this question.
Am I the only one who wonders? Has the question already been placed off-limits? — “In the 9th shalt Chapman toil, and nevermore!“, saith the Lord?
Do you think Chapman has been overworked?
- 50 games, tied for 35th over all and 24th among non-“specialists.”
- 53.2 innings, 15th among pure relievers.
- 205 batters faced, tied for 33rd among pure relievers, tied for 5th among closers with 10+ saves.
- 914 pitches, tied for 8th among pure relievers.
Chapman hasn’t gone more than 1 inning in a game since May 27, hasn’t faced more than 5 batters in a game since June 10. He’s faced a total of 64 batters since the start of July.
Perhaps there’s some slight physical issue that hasn’t been made public yet. But if I had to bet, I’d say it’s just hidebound Dusty, up to his old “damn your data!” tricks.
