Little did Aroldis Chapman know that his sister would cost him a 15-day stint on the IL.
A photo of his sibling, which he recently got inked on his left leg, is responsible the infection in his leg that sent Chapman to the injured list Saturday – the first time he has ever had a bad reaction to a tattoo.
"I have many tattoos and I've never gone through something like that," Chapman said Sunday through Yankees team interpreter Marlon Abreu. “I remember chatting with the doctor and he basically told me there's an infection right now going on. I had some fever, but feeling much better now.”
Chapman last pitched on August 19, and got the tattoo on his left calf area the next day – but didn’t realize it was infected until Thursday, when the Yankees opened their series in Oakland, and manager Aaron Boone said Chappy was available until that day.
“I’ve gotten some tattoos in the middle of the season, but never had any issues before,” Chapman said. “It was definitely scary.”
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He saw the Athletics’ team doctor in Oakland Thursday, and the team kept him at the hotel Friday and Saturday while he was taking antibiotics, but decided on the IL stint (retroactive to August 24, the earliest they could backdate the stint to) on Saturday.
That means Chappy isn’t available until at least September 8, when the Yankees finish a four-game set with the Twins at Yankee Stadium, which he laments.
“We have a really good bullpen and I am part of that bullpen, so not being there of course you’re gonna feel bad not being there for them,” Chapman said.
However, he doesn’t believe he’ll need to miss more than his 15 days, and likely won’t need a rehab assignment, even though it will have been more than three weeks since his last outing.
“I don’t think this is gonna take away too much time for me,” he said. “I’m just waiting for the next couple of days for everything to heal correctly so that I can start doing all kinds of baseball activities. I think I will probably do a bullpen and then right into games.”
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When he returns, the Yankees will hope for a resurgence from Chapman, who had a 4.70 ERA and the worst walk rate (16.2 percent) and strikeout rate (25.7 percent) of his career. He lost his job as Yankees closer, although he had a strong stretch of nine outings from July 26 to August 13 – 9 1/3 innings, three hits, one walk, 10 strikeouts – before back-to-back rough games against Tampa Bay and Toronto.
The 34-year-old is in the final year of his contract with the Yankees – one that paid him $102 million over six years of the original deal plus an extension.
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