For Aroldis Chapman and Reds fans across the nation March 20th was a scary day. The flame throwing left hander was hit by a comebacker in the face while facing the Arizona Diamondbacks in spring training. Chapman had to have immediate surgery and the timetable for his return seemed to be more later than sooner.
Throwing as hard as Chapman does doesn’t help the ball travel any slower as it is an estimated 105 miles per hour the baseball crashed into his face. He was lucky the injury wasn’t worse and fans are happy it wasn’t worse also.
A lot of people didn’t know if Chapman would change mentally after being struck. He didn’t change and he actually wanted to comeback before May 11th, but the Reds wanted to ease back into the flow sending him to the minors for a few tune up innings.
May 11th was the day Aroldis “Cuban Missile” Chapman cameback to the ball club and didn’t disappoint. His fastball ranged from 99-102 mph and he picked up his first save of the season versus the Colorado Rockies.
The last two months have been long for Chapman, but all Reds fans are happy he’s back.
