Aroldis Chapman Prefers to Close

Aroldis Chapman had always been a starting pitcher in Cuba.  He was comfortable as a starter, but after becoming the closer last season, he likes the adrenaline rush when the game is on the line.

Since Chapman and his radar-gun-spinning fastball arrived in the Reds' organization, there has been debate on how best that fastball could be used.

He started 13 games for Louisville, then moved to the bullpen.

The 25-year old has 137 big league relief appearances under his lean belt.

There is division within Reds' management about whether to leave Chapman as a star closer or develop him as a dominating starter.

A decision must be made soon.  Should the Reds' continue with 2010 first round choice Mike Leake or replace him in the rotation with Chapman.

Until today, the competition has been extremely close at least when you look at the stat sheet.

Leake took five innings of one-run baseball into a game against Milwaukee Saturday afternoon.

Chapman pitched four innings allowing one run.

Leake was hit hard, allowing seven runs (five earned) in 3 1/3 innings.  Chapman allowed one run in four innings.

Dusty Baker watched Chapman, who got himself into trouble by walking the first two batters of the game, then allowing a single.  Chapman adjusted and finish the outing with three scoreless innings.

"He got some balls up that they missed, sliders," Baker said.  "You can get away with that when you throw as hard as he does."

Chapman explained through interpreter, Tomas Vera.  Miguel Olivo, the Reds catcher noted that Chapman was rushing to the plate and dropping his elbow.

The pitcher who has thrown pitches as fast as 105 mph.  As a starter, he would need to pace himself and change speeds more.

"As the season comes up, you catch up with your speed," Chapman said. "I know it will happen so I'm not worried about how hard I throw right now.  When you're a starter you use your pitches in a different way.  You try to save energy.  When you save energy, you use the speed as the game demands.  If you enter late in the game, you can throw harder because the game demands that you do."

Chapman expressed several times that he will pitch in whatever role the team decides but would like a decision so the he could better prepare for the season

"I'm waiting for the decision so I can concentrate on what I have to do," Chapman said. "It is not a distraction because when you're pitching, you don't think about those things.  It's always good to know what you're going to do."

The Reds were planning to find out if Chapman would be a starter last spring but bullpen injuries dictated that he returned to the bullpen.  Eventually, he became the team's closer.

"I would like to be a closer, but it's not in my hands," Chapman said.

Baker planned to talk to him after the outing about Chapman's input into the decision.

"I was going to talk to him for that purpose," Baker said.  "You hear all kinds of stuff.  You hear from this camp.  You hear from people who think they're in the know. I wanted to hear from him. We are going to do what's best for the organization and for him. It makes it a lot easier if you get the person's blessing about it.  I use it to my advantage when I ask a guy where he likes to hit (in the lineup). A man in the middle is a man in constant turmoil. We have to discuss it. I'm happy he finally expressed something."

The small sample of spring training is not enough to go on according to Baker.

"It's hard to say in spring. You can't go on one or two outings.  There are guys that look great for three, then bad for two.  He only gave up one run today but he didn't throw a lot of quality pitches. They helped him out by swinging at a couple of pitches when his pitch count was getting high. The swung at the first or second pitch.  He is going to wild sometimes when he throws that hard.  Randy Johnson was. Sandy Koufax was. J.R. Richard; Nolan Ryan was. But they also had the ability to strike themselves out of trouble.  A power pitcher can walk three like they can't find the plate then bam put three pitches on the black and strike the next guy out."