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Aroldis Chapman will be in Boston for another year.
All Major League baseball players have made some big sacrifices in their lives to achieve their elite status as one of only 780 players to play in MLB at any given time — approximately 21,000 in the history of big league baseball in the United States, dating back to 1876. But Boston Red Sox relief pitcher Aroldis Chapman was forced to give up more than most.
Chapman as a 21-year-old in 2009, was pitching for Cuba in the World Port Tournament, an international baseball competition in the Rotterdam, the Netherlands, when he walked out of his hotel and into a waiting car driven by a friend.
His defection from Cuba was, he said, “pretty straightforward.” But by leaving Cuba and finally establishing residence in the tiny European country of Andorra — population approximately 80,000 — he was forced to abandon not only his parents but his girlfriend who was pregnant with their daughter.
Fastest Pitcher in Baseball History
Chapman was finally reunited with his parents in 2014, and with his daughter Ashanti as well. But at the time of his defection, he could not be sure he would ever see any of them again.
But Chapman knew he would have a lucrative career in baseball, because of one particular talent — his ability to throw a baseball faster than anyone who had ever lived. Chapman’s September 24, 2010, pitch clocked at 105.8 mph still stands, 15 years later, as the fastest ever recorded. In fact, of the 10 fastest pitches ever clocked by Stacast, Chapman threw seven of them — all timed at 105 mph or more.
Now, at age 37, the southpaw Chapman can somehow still throw the ball at superhuman speeds. In his first year with the Boston Red Sox, he threw the fastest pitch of 2025, at 103.8 mph.
Chapman Putting Together Historic Season at Age 37
More importantly, despite his age, Chapman is putting together the greatest season of his career, and one of the most dominant seasons of any closer in the history of the position. With an ERA of 1.04, Chapman has been literally unhittable. As of August 30, he has made 14 straight appearances without allowing a single base hit.
On Saturday, the Red Sox rewarded Chapman, who they signed to a one-year, $10.75 million deal before the start of the season, by extending his contract for at least one more season with a raise to $13.3 million, according to The Boston Globe.
The contract contains a mutual option for 2027 at $13 million.
Signing Chapman Sticks it to Yankees
For the Red Sox to get Chapman’s best season of his 16 year career and obtain his commitment for his 17th and possibly 18th as well must be especially satisfying because, of the seven teams for whom Chapman has pitched, he has spent the most time with the Red Sox’ hated arch-rival, the New York Yankees — seven season across two stints.
Nonetheless, Chapman remains a polarizing figure in baseball, mainly due to his 2016 suspension of 30 days due to domestic violence allegations.
Disturbing Allegations Led to 2016 Suspension
In 2015, when Chapman was 27 years old, a 22-year-old girlfriend told police that he had choked her, and that he fired eight gunshots inside the garage of his home in Davie, Florida. Chapman admitted firing the gun but maintained that he never physically assaulted his girlfriend. Prosecutors later dropped all charges citing lack of sufficient evidence to support the woman’s allegations.
But MLB conducted its own investigation and went ahead with the suspension of Chapman.
Chapman has said that he has been through therapy to deal with issues that led to the incident, and the Red Sox maintained they did “due diligence” before signing Chapman.
Jonathan Vankin JONATHAN VANKIN is an award-winning journalist and writer who now covers baseball and other sports for Heavy.com. He twice won New England Press Association awards for sports feature writing. He was a sports editor and writer at The Daily Yomiuri in Tokyo, Japan, covering Japan Pro Baseball, boxing, sumo and other sports. More about Jonathan Vankin
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