July 5, 2021

New York Yankees relief pitcher Aroldis Chapman, coming off a spectacular implosion against the Los Angeles Angels last Wednesday, did it again on Sunday against the crosstown rival Mets. Called on to preserve a one-run lead against the Mets in the first game of a doubleheader, Chapman was immediately greeted by a Pete Alonso solo home run that tied the game. Chapman then hit Michael Conforto with a pitch and walked Jeff McNeil before he was removed. Both Conforto and McNeil would go on to score in a six-run seventh inning, as the Mets won 10-5. Chapman was charged with three earned runs on one hit and one walk, while recording no outs, as he took his fourth blown save of the season. Chapman is definitely struggling, to say the least. He has blown his last two save opportunities and has posted a 16.88 ERA, a 3.38 WHIP, allowed 10 earned runs, and walked nine batters over his last seven games (a total of 5 1/3 innings pitched). He also posted an 11:10 strikeout-to-walk ratio and 11.42 ERA in the entire month of June. He still maintains an elite strikeout rate of 39.2% and an xBA of .188 which does signify positive regression forthcoming, though his disconcerting 16% walk rate is in the bottom 3% of MLB. Fantasy managers may want to bench Chapman while he works through these recent struggles, even if it means punting a couple of saves for the sake of ratios and sanity.--Nick Ritrivi - RotoBaller
Source: mlb.com