In case you weren’t aware, Aroldis Chapman still brings the heat.
Manny Machado probably knew. But he got an up-close reminder during Wednesday’s game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and San Diego Padres.
With two men on and two outs in the eighth inning of a game that Chapman’s Pirates led 6-5, Machado faced a 1-2 count against the veteran Pittsburgh reliever. Chapman didn’t try to fool Machado with his next pitch. He reared back and threw the ball as hard as he could. Machado never stood a chance.
The ball left Chapman’s hand at 104.7 mph and painted the inside corner. Machado stood and watched, helpless, and shook his head. He then looked up with a smile and made eye contact with Chapman in a gesture that might as well have been a tip of the cap. Chapman smiled back.
Each player then returned to his respective dugout. The inning and the Padres scoring threat was over, but the Padres went on to a 9-8 win in 10 innings.
The pitch was not only overwhelming. It was also one for the record books. Per MLB researcher Sarah Langs, the pitch tied Los Angeles Angels flamethrower Ben Joyce for the fastest pitch to record a strikeout since the onset of the pitch-tracking era in 2008.
Joyce set that mark just three days prior to sit down J.D. Martinez swinging and close out a win over the New York Mets.
Joyce is 23 years old. Chapman is 36 and in his 15th MLB season. His strikeout pitch of Machado wasn’t his fastest of the season. It wasn’t even his fastest of the at-bat.
Each of Chapman’s six pitched to Machado topped 100 mph.
One pitch prior, Chapman threw a 105.1 mph offering to Machado. That one missed low for a ball, so it didn’t generate quite the same reaction.
It did, however tie his own record for the fastest pitch of the Statcast era, matching a 105.1 mph offering against the Padres during his 2010 rookie season with the Cincinnati Reds.
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Where these pitches stand in the all-time record book can never be verified. Nolan Ryan and Bob Feller are believed by some to have topped 107 mph at their peaks. But the technology used to reach those numbers isn’t reliable, and the speeds aren’t verified.
Regardless, Chapman throws ridiculously hard. He’s not the dominant closer he was in his All-Star prime. But he’s still a force to be reckoned with when he has his best stuff.
