105.1: Popular FM radio frequency, also the speed of Aroldis Chapman's latest ridiculous pitch
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As the summer warms up, so, too, does Aroldis Chapman's pitch velocity.
Just a few weeks after locking down a save with pitches ranging in the 103-mph range, the Yankees' closer one-upped himself again while navigating the final frame of the Yankees' 2-1 win over the Orioles on Monday.
Seriously, this is video game stuff:
Fans in the stands at Yankee Stadium reacted with an audible gasp when the scoreboard flashed the pitch velocity, too. After all, we are but mortal humans, awed by feats of strength such as this, a pitch that tied Chapman with the previous MLB record holder for fastest pitch ... himself:
This pitch, by the way, came just after a 103-mph heave that sailed to the backstop and bounced high into the night air -- probably to the moon:
Chapman then dusted off another 105-mph heater in retiring Ryan Flaherty for the third out:
Worth pointing out: In a crazy coincidence, the fastest non-Chapman pitch of the Statcast™ era was delivered on Monday night by Braves reliever Mauricio Cabrera, who reached 103.8 with this:
Flamethrowing Yankees reliever Dellin Betances summed things up like this after watching his bullpen cohort make history:
Betances is right -- this kind of pitching really is unfair.