We’ve all been there, right? Well, maybe not. In this case, New York Yankees’ closer Aroldis Chapman was celebrating his team’s sweep of the Minnesota Twins.
Then, Chapman suffered an injury to his pitching hand after cutting it on a beer bottle. Certainly, it sounds like Chapman avoided a major injury. Still, one might wonder how this affects his status going forward for the ALCS which begins on Friday.
Aroldis Chapman was injured by a flying bottle in the Yankees' postgame locker room celebration last night.
"Next man up" continues for the Yanks! 🤷♂️https://t.co/LKEy9t4VAn
— 12up (@12upSport) October 8, 2019
According to Dan Chapman of the New York Post, here’s what Chapman had to say regarding the injury:
“I was just celebrating, and everyone was jumping around. I got hit with a bottle, but it’s fine.”
Earlier, Chapman was called upon by manager Aaron Boone to get the five-out save. Eventually, it ended in a stress-free outing because the Yankees added insurance runs in the top half of the ninth inning to win the game 5-1.
Chapman struck out three hitters in his appearance, and didn’t allow a run in the series.
No official word has been given on Chapman’s status moving forward, but Yankees’ general manager Brian Cashman did comment briefly on his closer’s hand injury.
“He had a huge smile on his face, so I think that was a good sign.”
I mean, a lot of guys can still smile while drinking beer and a cut hand. Not speaking from experience or anything. The true test of any effect will be during the ALCS when Chapman is called upon, especially within the first few games of what figures to be a tight series with Houston or Tampa.
Finally, who remembers a similar incident when Trevor Bauer of the Cleveland Indians cut his hand playing with a drone? While this isn’t quite the same occurrence, it’s a case of an athlete that is an integral part to his team’s final success not being careful enough.
