Scouting Aroldis Chapman vs. Pedro Alvarez and Indianapolis

MATCH-UP – Louisville Bats (Cincinnati Reds) at Indianapolis Indians (Pittsburgh Pirates)

KEY PROSPECTS WE’RE WATCHING – Aroldis Chapman (LHP, Reds), Pedro Alvarez (3b, Pirates), Neil Walker (LF, Pirates), Jose Tabata (CF, Pirates), Juan Francisco (3b, Reds), Zack Cozart (SS, Reds)

GAME BOX SCORE – Click Here

SCREENSHOT

A quick note on video structure…videos are edited to include only key and legitimate prospects. Time between pitches and between innings are edited out. Some commercials are left in out of respect for the companies that purchase ad buys.

I use time markers for when a particular hitter comes up to bat or a certain pitcher enters the game so you don’t have to shuffle through the video looking for key players. Games are edited so you can scout and evaluate a prospect in the most convenient and quickest way possible.

With Aroldis Chapman perhaps getting closer to being called up to the Major League level, I thought it would be a good idea to check in on the left handed pitcher. We’re looking at a start made by Chapman in late April where he showed his dominance with eight strikeouts, three hits, and just one run in 5+ innings, but also displayed a lack of control with five walks.

In this start, Chapman had to rely almost exclusively on his fastball as his slider was a mostly fringe/poor pitch for him in this game and from what I could tell, he hardly threw his change-up. Chapman had to grind this one out and rely on a little luck as well.

Mechanically, Chapman wasn’t real consistent from pitch-to-pitch….