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Hall of Fame baseball writer Hal McCoy has retired from the Dayton Daily News after covering the Cincinnati Reds for 37 years. Hal's blog, though, will continue to be a must-read for Reds fans. He'll share his thoughts on the team this season and will file updates from Great American Ball Park. You also can catch Hal in print every Sunday in his popular Ask Hal column

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Home > Blogs > The Real McCoy | Cincinnati Reds baseball news > Archives > 2010 > September > 01 > Entry

Chapman’s buzz-bombs has ‘em buzzing

By Hal McCoy | Wednesday, September 1, 2010, 03:21 PM

CINCINNATI REDS manager Dusty Baker said he spent the better part of the day answering his cell phone, “Calls from all over the country, all over the place.”

And can you guess the subject matter? Of course. Aroldis Chapman.

“And they all said about the same thing - dynamite, electric, gasoline. And from my Latino friends, ‘Mucho gasolina.”

Baker said the timing of Chapman’s debut Tuesday night was perfect: “We were up 8-4, eighth inning, bottom of the Milwaukee order and his spot in the batting order was due up after he pitched so I could pinch-hit and get him out of there.”

Because Chapman threw only eight pitches, seven for strikes and four over 100, including two at over 102 MPH, Baker said, “People wanted to see him pitch another inning, but we might need him tonight. And we wanted to get him out on a positive note. That couldn’t have been more positive.

“Our plan is to bring him along slowly,” Baker added. “See how he does. And if he continues on this path, we can use him in the postseason - that’s why we brought him up before September 1. Remember David Price for Tampa Bay a couple of years ago? He was a September call-up and ended up being their closer in the World Series.”

AlS PART OF Chapman-ia, check out this list from SABR of the fastest recorded pitches since 2008, with Chapman tied for the fastest with Detroit’s Joel Zumaya:

102.7 mph: Aroldis Chapman, CIN v. MIL, 8/31/2010, facing Craig Counsell.

102.7 mph: Joel Zumaya, DET v. CHN, 6/23/2010, facing Milton Bradley.

102.7 mph: Joel Zumaya, DET v. OAK, 6/30/2009, facing Matt Holliday.

102.6 mph: Joel Zumaya, DET v. CHN, 6/24/2009, facing Mike Fontenot.

102.6 mph: Joel Zumaya, DET v. OAK, 6/30/2009, facing Matt Holliday.

102.6 mph: Jonathan Broxton, LAD v. SD, 7/3/2009, facing Kevin Kouzmanoff.

102.5 mph: Bobby Parnell, NYM v. HOU, 8/18/2010, facing Chris Johnson.

102.5 mph: Aroldis Chapman, CIN v. MIL, 8/31/2010, facing Jonathan Lucroy.

AND THIS from Louisville Slugger:

Aroldis Chapman’s 104 MPH fastball takes only 0.39 seconds to reach the plate assuming the 60.5 foot distance from mound to plate. Factoring in a stride of about five feet before the point of release, this further reduces the time to 0.36 seconds. For comparison sake, the average speed of a human’s eye blink. The average human’s eye blinks at a speed of 300 to 400 milli-seconds or 3/10ths or 4/10ths of a second. So if a batter blinks at the point of Chapman’s release the ball will pass him before he opens his eyes.

Also, in a full second Chapman’s 104 MPH fastball will travel 152 feet.

And to that, I might add, if a hitter connects squarely on that fastball it was travel off the bat, oh, about 552 feet.

ANYBODY ELSE notice the resurgence of Jay Bruce pretty much coincides with the arrival of Jim Edmonds? Anybody else notice how Bruce gravitates to Edmonds in the dugout. No surprise.

Edmonds has been schooling Bruce, along with Chris Heisey, Chris Valaika and even Jonny Gomes.

“We talk about a lot of things, offensive stuff, defensive stuff,” he said about his tutoring of Bruce. “Mostly it is mental stuff - trying to calm him with some things that I’ve learned over the years from Mark McGwire and Albert Pujols. I just try to keep him calm in the batter’s box.

“I try to emphasize having an approach when he bats,” Edmonds added. “I was a young player out there trying to do everything I could and you really don’t have a focus or a game plan. I was trying to slow things down.

“I just try to talk to him every day and remind him that he doesn’t have to be perfect,” said Edmonds. “He got thrown out on the bases the other day and came to the dugout ranting and raving and I said, ‘You know what? It’s over and you can’t do anything about it. You have to finish the game and you have another big at-bat coming up. The things that I believe really helped me I just pass along. Jay is now calm and under control at the plate and that’s a huge deal.

“I’ve talked to Valaika and Gomes about that stuff, too - give them an idea of what to think about when they go to the plate, not to think, ‘Oh, God, this guy has a great sinker and slider, what do I do?’ It is slow yourself down and look for a pitch to hit. It’s a simple game if you can do that.”

BRUCE WAS OUT of Wednesday’s lineup, his second straight absence after his side hurt during batting practice Tuesday and he was taken out of the lineup.

“Bruce is better today,” said Baker. “We just don’t want to wear him out completely by not having any days off. We’re at the drawing board now trying to figure it all out.”

The Reds are down to three outfielders and when asked who his fourth outfielder is, Baker said, “Don’t know. Probably Miguel Cairo. He’s played some outfield. But he’s playing second base tonight so I’d have to do some finagling, like we’ve been doing.”

A few more players are expected to be called up from the minors for the start of the three-game series in St. Louis Friday, “And we’ll try to add on an outfielder because we can’t sustain this. We have 20 games in a row coming up. It’s amazing. We went from too many outfielders to now when we don’t have enough. Remember when everybody was asking what are we going to do with all those outfielders?”

NOT ONLY was Edinson Volquez scheduled to pitch for the Class A Dayton Dragons Wednesday night, but shortstop Orlando Cabrera was there to play Wednesday and Thursday.

“Cabrera will play a couple of games there and probably join us on Friday (in St. Louis) and we’ll re-evaluate him then, see how he is,” said Baker.

AND THEN THERE is Brandon Phillips, still out with a swollen hand after he was hit by a pitch in San Francisco.

When is he coming back? “He is lobbying for Friday (in St. Louis), but we’ll see how he is swinging the bat and how much pain he is in and how much bat speed he can generate. The swelling is going down - I can see some veins now where before it was just all puffy.”

AN AMERICAN LEAGUE scout on the plight of the St. Louis Cardinals: “Looks like the can plan their team golf outing for right when the regular season ends.”

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