‘Cos It Already Is (For Chad)

Chad, I started writing a post in reply to your comment and I just found that it turned out long…too long. Yes, I know. Surprise, Surprise.

For those that may have not caught what all went on in Taylor’s amazing post on hit f/x, Chad asked for our thoughts on Aroldis Chapman. Why not, the Chicago Tribune is now reporting that the Seattle Mariners are now entering the bidding war for his services. There are definitely a lot of thoughts to be had on this situation.

My opinion is much like that of what  Taylor expressed. Chapman himself is so unbelievably raw I would think he would end up in high A ball or, best case scenerio, AA West Tennessee. This is just my personal opinion; I could be completely wrong on this assessment

Now from where ever they start him the organiztion can permote him through the system as he shows he has the ability, the knowledge and the emotional poise to take on a further challenges. He is only 21, and he has just left his home and his “support net” (family and friends) behind.

The following is just some links I found that may help you out, just some easy surface level stuff that I found pretty quickly. All good reads take your time and let me know what you think.

Seattle’s sports insider had a great article on him here, also there is another great posts on yet another notable Seattle blog, called USS Mariner.

BtB has a cool graph on Chapman and how he compares (velocity wise) to other starters in the Majors.

Hardball Times has a good post about Chapman during the WBC

Finally, you really need it to look at the stats which you can reference world baseball classic stats here 2009 and for the cuban league which you can normally get through Baseball-Reference. I would also take a look at the work that Baseball Prospectus did.

*Taylor’s Edit* Chapman is in a somewhat similar position as that of Stephen Strasburg.  Both have undeniably filthy pure stuff, but neither of the pair is actually major-league-ready at the moment.  Problem is, they’re hot commodities right now, and the Nats/whoever Chapman goes to are going to want a polished starting pitcher right now. Give Chapman 8-10 minor league starts in AAA, let him work on his command, solidify his mechanics, and adjust to the ways of MLB, and you’ve got yourself (in the best possible scenario) a slightly overpriced 3-4 WAR pitcher for the next 4-5 years.  If I was in Jack Zduriencik’s shoes right now, I would spend my time and money trying to acquire someone like Ricky Nolasco as opposed to an unknown quantity like Aroldis Chapman.