The Atlanta Braves have been on the wrong side of baseball history a few too many times. Fans never want to see opposing players accomplish career feats against their own team. The Braves were locked in a tie game against Pittsburgh on June 29th 2024 for most of the game as Max Fried and Paul Skenes dueled at Truist Park. It was a good game for fans to watch, but they hoped to see a ninth -inning walk-off against the Pirates.
Aroldis Chapman was brought in from the Pittsburgh bullpen, hoping to keep the game tied. The southpaw was on the cusp of reaching a career milestone as he entered the game.
Braves History: Aroldis Chapman sets career strikeout record against Atlanta
Chapman pitched in one inning against the Braves and struck out two batters. These two strikeouts propelled him to the most career strikeouts by a lefty reliever in MLB history. With that second strikeout, the flamethrower had 1,197 career strikeouts and passed former Braves closer Billy Wagner on the list.
At the time, Chapman had the fifth-most strikeouts by any reliever in baseball after this. However, since then, he has now tied Hoyt Wilhelm for the most at 1,363 strikeouts. It won't be long before the lefty takes over the lead.
Chapman's impressive inning against the Braves helped keep the game tied. However, Adam Duvall hit a walk-off single in extras to give the team a win over the Pirates. This helped take the sting away from having a historical milestone reached against them.
It's wild to think Chapman is still throwing as hard as he did when he first started in Major League Baseball. The longevity is not something you'd expect from a pitcher who throws so hard. He's remained in incredible shape, and that has probably helped.
There was a time with the Red Sox that Chapman didn't have a great grasp of his control. Pitchcom being introduced changed things drastically for him. Buster Olney reported at the time that Chapman had never thought about spotting his pitch.
"That's when the lightbulb went off over Chapman's head. He told Wong and Jason Varitek that he never thought about spotting his fastball; he would just throw it to home plate. All of a sudden, his entire perspective has changed."
Wild concept for a pitcher to just throw their fastball without care for where it's going. That's dangerous for the hitters and not a good business model to remain a dependable closer. Luckily, he had the light bulb moment and is on his way to being the benchmark for strikeouts by a reliever.
Add us as a preferred source on Google