News: Aroldis Chapman to Meet the Mets today
Update, 8:10 pm:
In a post to Twitter, ESPN.com’s Peter Gammons says three different GMs have warned him to buy in to leaks regarding Chapman, with GM saying, “He may be the Cuban John Rocker.”
Original Post:
The Mets will meet with free-agent LHP Aroldis Chapman today in New York, according to Adam Rubin of the Daily News.
To read Chapman’s bio, sent by his agent, Edwin Mejia, read Rubin’s report, here, which, among other things, says, “Chapman has a fastball (two seam or four seam), sinking fastball, curveball, slider, changeup and a forkball.”
…he’s also 21 years old, 6’ 4”, and hits 100 mph on the radar gun, which is why Ryan Christopher DeVault from Associated Content believes chapman will get a deal worth $50 or $60 million, ‘before even throwing a pitch in the Majors.’…
This morning, at Mets Today, Joe Janish answered, “Who Is Chapman?”
In August, Jorge Arangure did a video interview for ESPN with Chapman, with clips of him pitching, which you can watch here.
In July, in a report for ESPN The Magazine, Arangure said many scouts believe Chapman is the best left-handed pitching prospect in the world.
Update, 12:13 pm:
Speaking of International free agents…
According to NPB Tracker, Japanese teenager Yusei Kikuchi will announce whether to pitch in America or enter the draft in Japan no sooner than Oct. 24, as he has a self-imposed deadline of Oct. 26.
The Mets, and other teams, met with Kikuchi in Japan earlier this week.
To learn more about Kikuchi, read this post at NPB Tracker.
