Some of you have been asking for another Chapman thread, so here you go. You should check out Fay's blog, as he has some interesting stuff from today. Some of the best? Here is a report from one of the Reds' scouts who saw Chapman throw in December:
"He’s got a great athletic body," Walker said. "He was an arm of super strength. At no time during the workout did I feel he let it loose. He was free and easy and the ball just jumped out of his hand. That’s what you want from a young pitcher."
As for a his other pitches:
"I call it slider, but it’s a mix of slider and curve. It has a sharp break. He kept down in the zone that day. It was in the low 80s. His change-up was good. He commanded it well that day. As far as velocity, it was from the low 70s to 76, 77. He was also cutting the ball that day to get sink, throwing a two-seam and four-seam.
"He’s an exciting young man to watch."
UPDATE:
And here's Bryan Price on Chapman
And here's Chris Buckley, Reds director of scouting,
Highlight from Buckley:
“But in all the viewings we had of him, all the DVDs and video we saw, none of our scouts saw anythnig that would be a problem. He just needs a little coaching. We think he can have three or four quality pitches. All our scouts think his slider will be well, well above average. His fastball is already well, well above average. The player development people will work with his changeup. We’ll have him throw it x amount of times. It can be an outstanding pitch too.”
By the way, nine different Reds scouts saw Chapman.
Use this thread to post pics you find of the press conference, discuss East Coast bias (stupid New Yorkers), and predict where he'll start the year and when he might crack the rotation.
Today is fun.