Viewed through the small rectangular Zoom box, the upper arm still looks like a pier rope connected to an iron shoulder.
When MLB closed spring training on March 12 and the coronavirus removed the regular season action in April, May, June and most of July, Aroldis Chapman went to work on a chisel body that pumps the ball fast into three digits from the left side.
Six days a week at his home in Davie, Florida, the Yankees’ home is closer to work, looking to lose weight from the 6-foot-4, 218-pound frame he reported to spring training in Tampa with in February.
“I really want to take advantage of that, really want to cut a few pounds during quarantine and be at home and practice at home,” Chapman said during Zoom’s call before Tuesday’s intrasquad match at Yankee Stadium. “I can do that, I can cut a few pounds, 10 pounds, and I feel very good now. I find myself very heavy for an athlete. “
Ten pounds lost would make Chapman 208 and according to the belief that the older an athlete the lighter he should be. Chapman was 32 in February and this is the 10th year in the big leagues, the fifth with the Yankees he has saved 111 matches.
When last seen throwing in a calculated game, Chapman handed a two-run homer to the Houston Altuve Houston in the ninth inning of Game ALCS six years ago which ended the Yankees season and pushed the Astros to the World Series where they lost to the Nationals.
A lot has changed since then because of COVID-19. If MLB can complete spring training and start a regular 60-match season schedule, it will do so with a lot of rules on the new pitch and the big one in the stadium: no fans.
For a pitcher who grew up with emotion to stir his spirits, what that meant for Chapman was something he didn’t know.
“That’s a good question. I have to contact you for that. I have to see how it feels. “I would be better suited to give you a better answer,” Chapman said. “After I get into the game and see that reality.”
Aroldis ChapmanCharles Wenzelberg / New York Post
Aaron Hicks honors Negro League Baseball during Tuesday night pregame practice at Yankee Stadium. His black T-shirt that says Negro League Baseball around the NL are interlocked on the front and “They Play For Us So We Can” on the back.
One night after sitting behind a home plate with GM Brian Cashman and evaluating players, CC Sabathia was clearly reducing the ball in the right-center area during a practice hit on Tuesday at the Stadium.
Sabathia, who joined Cashman in the chair again Tuesday night, worked in the Yankees’ front office with a special advisory title and wore the same T-shirt that Hicks wore.
Kyle Higashioka was originally on the Bombers line for intrasquad games Tuesday night but was scratched by his stiff neck.
Clint Frazier replaces Higashioka as DH, the second night in a row he is not on the field.
“She is fine. He has had a few foot problems that he has had over the last few months, “said Aaron Boone about Frazier.” He has been able to do everything from running and playing outside so we are a bit slow playing it here in the first few days. “
Although not everyone in the field wears a mask during pregame activities, Frazier wears a mask as long as he is in the field.
Judge Aaron went 0-for-3 with two balls flying into the right field warning lane.
Because Miguel Andujar took the ground ball at the third base before the Monday night intrasquad match, Boone was asked on Tuesday whether Andujar’s idea of playing off the field had been changed slightly.
“Not really, he will play outside [Tuesday night]”Boone said of Andujar, who was in the left field for the bomber and hit the second against Gerrit Cole.” We will move it back and forth. He has gotten a defensive job on the field too. “
Andujar moved to the field directly from Cole in the first inning.
Boone understands throwing a baseball around a diamond after being discouraged is not recommended but not sure it’s the right rule.
“We have to finish that,” Boone said.
The Yankees are waiting at DJ LeMahieu and Luis Cessa to each take the COVID-19 test which returns negative so they can move closer to joining spring 2.0 training.
“Waiting for the two people where they test negatively several times and get to the point where they can enter the intake section,” Boone said of the second baseman and left-handed throwers who tested positive and were quarantined away from the team.
When it is clear that COVID-19 will close the MLB game for more than two weeks at the start of the season, some say the longer the shutdown lasts, the more profitable the Yankees who have Giancarlo Stanton, Judge and Hicks are ready to land on the injured list for Opening Day on March 26 .
It worked like that for all of them but especially for Judge, whose right upper rib didn’t allow him to start swinging until two weeks ago.
“I think in many ways, the time was perfectly organized and worked very well,” said Boone, who started the Judge in the right field for the second night in a row. “They began the development that began with him swinging in the pool, dry swing, etc. and at the point where they considered it safe for him to start doing that. That coincides with working perfectly at this point as far as where we are at the camp and when Opening Day will occur. “
It will be July 23 against the Nationals in Washington if MLB doesn’t have to close the game again because of COVID-19.
Jonathan Loaisiga arrived from Nicaragua on Monday and underwent intake tests.
