Mix in an offspeed pitch with chapman please!!!

[ShaySongz]

fastball nice but this is the major leagues people!

[EMAW]

That's why I do not see him in the rotation, he looks tonight like he did last year in the 9th inning home meltdown against the Cards

[LaFlamaBlanca]

Good point. Chapman has been WOEFULLY ineffective this year.

[Ironman92]

"You can time out a jet plane if you see it enough" Leo Mazzone

[malcontent]

Don't get me wrong....I love the AC slider.

But his last two sliders have gone for a double and a run-scoring WP.

If he throws the FB instead, the Reds may have swept Detroit.

[GoReds19]

At the start of this year it seemed like he was using his slider as a put away pitch. Now it just seems like hes abandoned it completely. Would like to see him get back to that.

[jhiller21]

There's no way he's going to mature throwing only fastballs, that's a given. MLB hitters will watch video, and make adjustments to catch up, no matter how fast it is.

He has to develop a curve or change, or at least use his slider as a backup. No pitcher gets by for more than a few outings throwing just a fastball, no matter how hard he throws. Chapman managed to make it a lot longer than that. Now they're on to him.

[swaisuc]

It's hard for him to throw any breaking pitches with a guy on 3rd because nobody believes the catchers will actually catch/block them. I think it's a little better when Hannigan catches.

[Stray]

I think we'll start to see more sliders from him. When you go a few months without anyone touching your fastball it's pretty easy to continue to call it...and even easier to lose touch with your other pitches. Also like swaisuc said, that slider is really nasty, it's a dangerous pitch to throw with a guy on 3rd.

[brm7675]

The problem, which I stated a few weeks back and was scoffed at by many, is that you can not be a dominate pitcher in this league with just one pitch. Yes Chapman can throw 100 mph, so what. At the start of the season he was throwing other pitches with success, but then slowly moved towards just throwing fastballs to where we are now where I really wonder if he has the confidence to throw anything but it. I blame this on Dusty and Price. They are the coaches, they can call the pitches if they want and should have had Chapman continue to throw the other pitches. Sad how we can take a plus and downgrade it to not a plus...

[brm7675]

Don't get me wrong....I love the AC slider.

But his last two sliders have gone for a double and a run-scoring WP.

If he throws the FB instead, the Reds may have swept Detroit.

Had he been continually throwing that slider I doubt either would have happened. You can't just stop throwing a pitch for as long as Chapman has and be able to bring it back just like that...

[DirtyBaker]

I will not let one game sway my opinion of how dominant AC can be in whatever role he will have with this team in the future.

What I do question after this game is how, entering his third year of professional baseball, has he not developed an off speed pitch he can throw for a strike or at least have confidence in? He somehow managed to be the best SP on the team during spring training, so I know he can get by with what he has, but my fear is that he is satisfied with where he is as a pitcher.

No one in the history of the game has or had an arm like AC. He could go down as the greatest, or a one-trick pony. Given all the off-the-field issues, there is reason to believe his focus is an issue moving forward.