Chapman throws fastest pitch ever recorded!

[billybroome]

History was made today by a Cincinnati Red!

Chapman throws fastest pitch ever recorded

By Steve Henson, Yahoo! Sports

SAN DIEGO – Aroldis Chapman(notes) was summoned from the bullpen one batter too late to make a difference in the game. No matter. The 22-year-old Cincinnati Reds left-hander made do by making history Friday night, throwing the fastest pitch recorded in a major league game, a 105-mph fastball.

Ardolis Chapman's 25 pitches on Friday night (each registering 100 mph or faster, including his record-breaking 105 mph heater) must have been a blur to Padres batters.

The blazing pitch pushed a white-hot pennant race to the back burner. Yes, the San Diego Padres won the game 4-3 to pull ahead of the Atlanta Braves in the National League wild-card race. Sure, the San Francisco Giants all but buried the Colorado Rockies thanks to a dominant performance by Tim Lincecum.

But the lingering memory was of a now-you-see-it, did-I-actually-see-it fastball to Tony Gwynn in the eighth inning. The pitch was not a fluke: Chapman threw 25 pitches in his 1 1/3 innings of relief, and every one was at least 100 mph. He didn’t throw a slider. He didn’t throw a changeup. Why would he?

From Walter Johnson to Bob Feller to Steve Dalkowski to J.R. Richard to Nolan Ryan to Stephen Strasburg, blistering velocity is etched forever in baseball lore. Rush Chapman to the head of the list. Has anybody in the history of the game had a comparable 25-pitch sequence?

Read the rest here.

[SenorGato]

I watched him work against the Padres...holy crap is his arm is amazing...it's not even his arm he's built like teams imagine pitchers. I can't wait to see what happens when he starts...he threw a slider or two that guys looked dumb on just because his fastball is such a dominant pitch.

He's already kind of a legend in a sense and he's only just started. I hope he becomes this generations Johnson/Carlton/Koufax/Great lefty.