Cleared to return to game action six weeks after suffering facial fractures from a line drive to the head, Reds left-hander Aroldis Chapman made a minor-league rehab appearance yesterday at Single-A.
And he was clocked at 101 miles per hour on multiple pitches.
Chapman struck out two of the three (completely overmatched) hitters he faced in a 1-2-3 inning and afterward told Andy Call of MLB.com that he felt “normal ... like I have always been, the way I felt before the accident. There is no fear, no hesitation with me.”
He was throwing so hard that the Single-A ballpark’s scoreboard wasn’t prepared for it:
There’s no official timetable set for his return, but Chapman said that “two or three more [appearances in the minors is exactly what I need.”
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