Shoulder Forces Chapman to DL

The Cincinnati Reds have placed pitcher Aroldis Chapman on the 15 day disabled list due to left shoulder inflammation.

Cincinnati believes that this injury is to blame for Chapman’s recent meltdown. The flamethrower has been extremely erratic over his last four appearances.

Chapman had a very successful first month of the season. Over his first 12 outings, the Cuban native did not allow a single earned run, striking out 12 in 11.2 innings.

Since April 30^th, it has been a different story for Chapman. In his four appearances since then, Chapman has allowed 10 earned runs in only 1.1 innings of work. While teams still have not been able to hit him, Chapman has given away 12 free passes over that span while only striking out 3.

Entering his DL stint, Chapman’s ERA is sitting at 6.92. The good news is players are only hitting .143 off of him on the year. The bad news is his K/BB ratio checks in at an ugly 0.75.

The Reds hope his current mark of 13.85 BB/9 can be attributed to his shoulder inflammation. His velocity was down a bit during his last start, never a good sign for pitchers.

Jordan Smith has been recalled by the team to replace Chapman on the roster. Smith began the year with the club, but he was sent down to make room for Homer Bailey earlier this month.