The Yankee offense has yet to break out like many expect it to, but the team is still hovering around .500 thanks to a dominant bullpen that current ranks tops in the league in FIP and WHIP, and second in the league with 11.89 strikeouts per nine innings and just 1.81 walks per nine.
There have been surprises like the dominance of Jonathan Loaisiga, but the bullpen’s strong start is also thanks in large part to Aroldis Chapman, whose new pitch has brought fantastic results so far.
Chapman introduced his new splitter in flashes last season, but 2021 is the first time he has incorporated it as a significant part of his arsenal, having used a full offseason and spring training to develop the pitch. So far this year, the lefty flamethrower is using his splitter 11.7 percent of the time, per Statcast, and of the seven times he’s thrown it so far, five have resulted in strikeouts, and none have resulted in a hit.
All of them have led to a swing and a miss, and Chapman is still working to perfect it.
“I definitely think it’s going to be a big help,” Chapman said of his splitter after Monday’s win over the Blue Jays, which he closed out for the save. “It’s going to help the fastball and the slider, and so far it’s been really good. To me, just adding that helps the other pitches.”
The splitter’s seemingly instant success hasn’t caught Chapman off guard, especially not after working on the pitch for nearly a full year now. After relying on solely his blazing fastball and sweeping slider for most of his career, Chapman now has another true weapon to keep hitters off balanced as his fastball velocity trends more toward mortal levels with age.
“I wouldn’t say surprising,” Chapman said of his splitter’s immediate effectiveness. “I’ve been able to locate the splits I’ve used early in the season and definitely used it in a really good area on the plate, and they’ve been swinging at it.”
Of course, Chapman’s fastball velocity has actually seen a boost to start the season. After consistently trending down since his 2016 season, when he averaged 101.1 mph, his average fastball to begin 2021 is at 99.3 mph, a noticeable upgrade from last year, when he averaged 97.8 mph. In April of 2019, he was averaging “just” 97.2 mph on his fastball. At the start of last year, after coming off the COVID-19 injured list, he was averaging 97.9 mph. So far, his fastball has more average velocity to start a season than his 2017 campaign.
Chapman can’t point to anything specific for his improved velocity, but he certainly isn’t going to question it.
“All I can say is I’m feeling good and healthy, and have put in a lot of work,” Chapman said. “I don’t know what else to say, I just feel really good.”
Even after Monday’s outing, his first time this year appearing in a game on consecutive days, Chapman was bringing the heat, ending the game and picking up his first save of the year on a 101 mph fastball. Armed with his filthy new splitter and an improved velocity, the Yanks would love this version of Chapman to stick around and help the bullpen remain among the league’s best while the bats work their way out of an early-season funk.
“I feel really good,” Chapman said. “I think [Monday] was my first back-to-back this year including spring training, and I just feel really good right now.”
Follow Ryan Chichester on Twitter: @ryanchichester1
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