Bjarkman article on Chapman

[Plus Plus]

http://www.baseballdecuba.com/newsContainer.asp?id=2217

An... interesting... article about Chapman's time in USA so far, with a seemingly biased and sort of strange look at his success (or lack thereof, according to the author) in Louisville.

Always nice to get multiple perspectives, I guess. Bjarkman predicts a Livan Hernandez-esque journeyman career out of Chapman.

[OnBaseMachine]

Bjarkman is incredibly bitter. Go back and ready some of his articles after Chapman first signed, or after he first defected. The guy is so bitter it's not even funny. I take anything he says with a grain of salt.

[OnBaseMachine]

I was just reading some comments on twitter, apparently this guy makes a habit out of bashing Cuban defectors.

From Jorge Arangure:

There's no question Peter is sympathetic toward non defectors and more accomplished members of the National Series

http://twitter.com/jorgearangure

[GIDP]

http://www.baseballdecuba.com/newsContainer.asp?id=2217

An... interesting... article about Chapman's time in USA so far, with a seemingly biased and sort of strange look at his success (or lack thereof, according to the author) in Louisville.

Always nice to get multiple perspectives, I guess. Bjarkman predicts a Livan Hernandez-esque journeyman career out of Chapman.

Reminds me of Paul Daugherty. Just typing what ever vomit rolls off his brain.

[Joseph]

Chapman has hardly been a bust at Cincinnati’s AAA outpost in Louisville, but he has hardly blown away the International League competition either. After his first dozen starts he owns a winning ledger (barely, at 5-4), he has struck out twice as many as he has walked (although untimely wildness has lead to defeat in his two most recent outings), and the league is hitting only .252 against him. In brief, if Chapman is not quite Strasburg, he doesn’t quite seem to be the close cloning of Liván Hernández, Orlando Hernández or Danys Báez either. He boasts only the second most wins on his AAA ballclub and also trails ace Travis Wood for the staff lead in strikeouts. Chapman’s ERA ranks number 31 in the entire league and fifth out of the six Louisville teammates who have started 7 or more games. He has been admittedly impressive in several outings—especially his opening pair; but then he has been entirely mortal in several others, especially his two June appearances.

Bitter perhaps, but nothing he says in that passage is untrue.

If he can win 160 Major League games [as Livan has done] I don't exactly think thats a bad thing.

Chapman throws hard, no denying, but so did Daniel Cabrera. He needs to harness his stuff and I think he can do it, but I don't think we should dismiss and ignore the results so far, nor do I think we should look for reasons he's failed like the AAA defense. Chapman controls his own fate, pitch well and get a call up. Continue to walk batters like he has been doing more and more of lately and stay here in Louisville.

I'm firmly in his corner, I believe he can and will do it, but I also think he needs to stay here in Louisville all season just to work on mechanics.

[The Voice of IH]

too long and mind numbing for my read, unfortunately I gave the jerk a click

[RedsManRick]

I don't quite get his logic. Chapman, at age 22, lacks polish and is a bit immature; not yet ready to make use of his 100 mph LH fastball at the major league level as evidence but an up and down season in AAA. Therefore, he'll be lucky to be a journeyman in his major league career. What?

[Superdude]

I don't quite get his logic. Chapman, at age 22, lacks polish and is a bit immature; not yet ready to make use of his 100 mph LH fastball at the major league level as evidence but an up and down season in AAA. Therefore, he'll be lucky to be a journeyman in his major league career. What?

I think it's obvious people raised the bar a little high on Chapman during spring training, but the way he talked like Chapman will never improve is my biggest complaint. Regardless of how many years he spent pitching in Cuba, Chapman still has plenty of time to get better. And didn't Chapman say he fixed a flaw in his delivery after he first saw video of himself pitching on TV in some other country? That doesn't sound like he was receiving top flight coaching. Give him a year working with Soto and Power, and then see where he's at.