Aroldis Chapman's 103 MPH Fastball Again Makes Him MLB's Most Feared Pitcher

When MLB.com began its Statcast leaderboard in 2015, the folks who put it together had a problem with the list of fastest pitches.

It isn't that the Statcast numbers weren't accurate. It's just that if you were looking for anyone other than Aroldis Chapman, you were out of luck.

The list details the 50 fastest pitches of any given season. In 2015, Chapman threw all 50 of those. In fact, the then-Cincinnati Reds hurler had the fastest 63 pitches of anyone that season.

To solve that dilemma, Statcast introduced a Chapman filter, which allows users to list the fastest pitches thrown by anyone else. Nathan Eovaldi, then of the New York Yankees, topped that list in 2015.

This is how it has been not just since Statcast arrived on the scene, but since Chapman left Cuba in 2010 to sign with the Reds.

Nobody in MLB throws harder. It doesn't require proof, even though there is plenty of that available.

For a few days in May, however, the fastest pitches of the 2018 season belonged to Jordan Hicks of the St. Louis Cardinals, not Chapman. That came as somewhat of a surprise, even though Chapman often throws his hardest pitches later in the season and though someone else has temporarily topped the list in past seasons. (Joe Kelly of the Boston Red Sox did for a while in 2017.)

Chapman took back his crown last week, when he threw 103.3 mph and 102.6 mph against the Red Sox on back-to-back days. He also accepts the idea that someone will legitimately top him someday.

"I'm an old goat," he said through an interpreter, laughing at the thought. "[Hicks] is a young kid."

Chapman turned 30 in February, and you can judge for yourself whether that qualifies him for goat status (as opposed to GOAT, greatest of all time, status).

Joe Robbins/Getty Images

What shouldn't be in dispute is that the Yankee closer looked as good as ever in those games against the Red Sox. In fact, he has looked that way for much of the 2018 season.

Heading into Tuesday, Chapman had retired 54 of the 73 batters he faced in 18 appearances. Thirty-five of those 54 outs came on strikeouts.

He's striking out 48 percent of batters, which would be his highest mark over a full season since 2014, when he fanned 52.5 percent.

"I think mechanically, he's in a better place than he was last year," Yankees bullpen coach Mike Harkey said. "Right now, he's at the top of his game."

Chapman agrees with the conclusion, although not necessarily with the reason.

"I definitely feel good," he said. "And I'm healthy, which is important."

A few days after saying that, Chapman stood on the Yankee Stadium mound while the team's athletic trainer looked at his left hand. Chapman had walked three straight batters while not throwing a pitch over 97.6 mph, but the issue turned out to be a cracked fingernail. The Yankees said Chapman wasn't seriously hurt, and he warmed up in the bullpen the next day (although he didn't get in the game).

Chris Trotman/Getty Images

It's a significant difference from this time last season, when Chapman went on the disabled list with left rotator cuff tendinitis. He missed a month, and even when he returned, he wasn't as dominant. He struck out only 32.9 percent of the batters he faced, and his ERA rose to 3.22, the highest it has been since 2011.

Chapman's strikeout rate is way up this season, and his ERA has fallen to 1.50, which is even better than his 1.84 ERA in his dominant seasons from 2012 through 2016.

Pitching coach Larry Rothschild credits Chapman's location and the movement on his two-seam fastball, which he now throws along with the four-seamer. Chapman's teammates talk about how he has thrown his slider more consistently for strikes, making it even tougher for hitters to prepare for the triple-digit fastball.

"Yeah, I like where he is right now," Rothschild said. "I don't know if it's the pinnacle [of his Yankee career], but it's pretty close."

And as for those pitch speeds, stay tuned. Chapman tends to throw harder as the season goes on. He gets going as the weather warms up, and his highest velocity numbers have come in September in each of the last two seasons.

The numbers against the Red Sox in early May suggest he'll get there again. He may be an "old goat," but in the world of fearsome closers, he's still the alpha goat in the bullpen.

Danny Knobler covers Major League Baseball as a national columnist for Bleacher Report.

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