MLB

WATCH: Aroldis Chapman Has Strong Debut, Assures Runaway Hype

No Stephen Strasburg? No problem for pitching-phenom-hungry baseball fans, who in Strasburg’s impending surgery and yearlong absence may now turn their attention to the Reds’ Aroldis Chapman. Chapman made his big league debut last night in the Reds’ 8-4 win over the Brewers, and if his performance was any indication, we’ll be hearing plenty more about him.

It’s important to note that Chapman is a reliever and only pitched one inning, so nothing he could have done would have been as awesome as Strasburg’s brilliant 14-strikeout debut. Still, Chapman looked overpowering, breaking 100 on the radar gun with regularity and needing just eight pitches to retire the side.

He struggled with his command in the minors (52 walks in under 100 innings), but – small sample size alert! – he had no such troubles last night. Also, unlike Strasburg, we may well get to see Chapman pitch in the postseason, with the Reds leading the NL Central by seven games as of this writing.

If Chapman keeps pitching this well, we might even see people clamoring for him to be moved back to being a starter (a decision that could well backfire no matter how good he looks out of the bullpen). For now, though, we have an awesome debut, a great talent, and the video of said debut below. Watch: