Defected!

21 year-old Cuban pitcher Aroldis Chapman with a 100 mph fastball has defected.

If you watched any of the Cuban WBC games you may have seen him pitch (or at least remember the announcers talking about him.)

Apparently the guy wants to go by the name "A-Chap" – gee, how novel.

The 21-year-old left-hander will be remembered for his velocity readings as much as anything since he threw more than 70% fastballs and recorded an average velocity of 93 miles per hour. On his 12th pitch of the afternoon Chapman hit triple digits with a staggering 100.2 miles per hour. As the game's announcers noted - in between giving us updates on Chapman's Live-Journal mood. Reportedly, Chapman has hit 102 miles per hour in Cuban competition.

He doesn’t throw any off speed pitches but he does have a decent slider (he doesn’t throw that much, he’s pretty much all fast balls all the time.) If he’s going to be a successful MLB pitcher he will have to come up with something off speed because in “the show”, almost everyone can hit the heat if they know it is coming. He’s definitely not ready for the big time but that won’t stop someone from throwing a couple of million at him.

I’m certain that you will start to hear lots of buzz about him. He’s a name to remember…………….. - Mike Gross

Michael Gross, in conjunction with a prominent sports agency runs a strength, conditioning and agility program that many agents send their “to-be-drafted” athletes, prior to being drafted. Many pro athletes have also used the facilities for rehabilitation after injury. Over 90 professional athletes including current MLB ball players have attended his institution during the past 3 years.