Has anybody here seen Aroldis?

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.

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Brooklyn Mick
Brooklyn Mick
12 years ago

It could be that the 53 innings he’s pitched this year represents a career high, and perhaps Dusty and/or the brass are being proactive? Or, more likely, the Reds haven’t had a lead going into the 9th inning during their five game losing streak. Some managers refuse to use their closers in non-save situations, and since he hasn’t pitched more than an inning in any of his appearances since May 27th, it looks to me like he’ll be used exclusively in the 9th inning and only in save situations.

Brooklyn Mick
Brooklyn Mick
12 years ago
Reply to  Brooklyn Mick

The Reds are up 9-6 in the top of the 8th in Wrigley. We’ll see if Dusty brings in Broxton for the bottom of the 8th and Chapman for the 9th.

Brooklyn Mick
Brooklyn Mick
12 years ago
Reply to  John Autin

Point well taken John. I didn’t check his minor league stats. And I agree wholeheartedly that Dusty can indeed be mule-headed, and also that there is too much pampering of pitchers these days with pitch counts, inning counts, etc…and as I write, Broxton has allowed two runs in the 8th and the score is now 9-8 Reds. Dusty is FOOL if he doesn’t bring in Chapman to get five outs, especially in light of their 5-game losing streak.

deal
12 years ago

CIN game on WGN America right now. Talking about Aroldis – no mention of injury. Reds lead by 2 T8 on road, so could be sv situation.

Brooklyn Mick
Brooklyn Mick
12 years ago
Reply to  John Autin

Where is the “like” button?

Brooklyn Mick
Brooklyn Mick
12 years ago
Reply to  John Autin

Alas, you were not hoist by your own petard! Four-out save…three strikeouts. Dusty finally learned a thing or two about bullpen management…especially after a five-game losing streak.

Luis Gomez
Luis Gomez
12 years ago
Reply to  John Autin

I´m starting to believe that Dusty is a HHS fan 🙂

Steven Page
Steven Page
12 years ago

Gentlemen, your work is done……

Larry
Larry
12 years ago

Dang, it had to end sooner or later. Astros score twice in the bottom of the ninth to walk off with a 4-3 win over the Brewers. This was their first walk off win of the season. The EI of 0-11 is still intact.

bstar
12 years ago

First off, Aroldis Chapman is not leading baseball in batting average against. Before tonight’s game, Chapman’s BA against of .129 ranks third in the NL behind Huston Street(.096) and Craig Kimbrel(.117). Perhaps you meant for his career? Let’s look at their slash lines: H Street .096/.154/.149/.304/OPS+ -11/ERA+ 474 CKimbrel .117/.179/.166/.345/OPS+ -3/ERA+ 322 AChapman .129/.205/.220/.425/OPS+ 16/ERA+ 316 While the differences are small, again Chapman is third in every category. What else? It’s almost useless to look at inherited runners stats since elite relievers rarely enter mid-inning anymore. Tonight’s four-out save for Chapman, as you pointed out, was indeed unusual. Kimbrel doesn’t… Read more »

bstar
12 years ago
Reply to  John Autin

J, I’m actually fine with co-#1s (although I think it is easier to make an argument for Kimbrel being slightly better than it is for Aroldis when one takes a closer look at ALL the numbers). It does irk me when seemingly everyone talks about Chapman’s dominance when Kimbrel has clearly been every bit as good if not better. I’ve even heard murmurings of “Chapman for the Cy Young”. I think one of the problems with Kimbrel flying so under the radar, at least as to how it relates to B-Ref, is they seem to have no leaderboards for relievers… Read more »

bstar
12 years ago
Reply to  John Autin

OK, I can buy a lot of those reasons, although that explanation of the bullpen “collapsing” last September isn’t what really happened. The Braves’ bullpen was the least ineffective part of their team when compared to their SP and offense, but I’m over it (I think).

Voomo Zanzibar
Voomo Zanzibar
12 years ago
Reply to  John Autin

Here’s Chapman’s last 21 games:

20.2 8 0 0 3 44

Here’s Street’s last 22 games:

21.1 3 0 0 3 27

Here’s Kimbrel’s last 32 games:

32.0 8 2 2 3 56

Doug
Doug
12 years ago

The other factor to consider is Broxton is the new guy and you want to show some confidence in him to get out of a jamb.

But, I guess as of tonight, he’s not a neW guy anymore and he’s got to earn his innings like everyone else.

Scott
Scott
12 years ago

Chapman has given up 1 ER to National League teams all season.

Voomo Zanzibar
Voomo Zanzibar
12 years ago
Reply to  Scott

Chapman vs the National League:

52.2 17 2 1 13 101

Chapman vs the American League:

3.1 7 7 7 1 4

Thomas Court
Thomas Court
12 years ago

Since June 26th, Aroldis Chapman has turned in the following resume:

22games, 21.2 inn, 9 hits, 0 runs, 0 earned runs, 3 walks and 45 strikeouts and 20 saves.

His strikeout rate over that time is 18.7 per nine innings. That number is ridiculous. If he enters the ninth inning and strikes out two batters his strikeout rate goes down.