Aroldis Chapman's Spin Rate Down Significantly in Stunning Blowout 9th Inning Loss

The plot thickens in baseball's foreign substance controversy, and chalk up another New York Yankees' pitcher right in the heat of it.

Yankees: Chapman’s velocity and spin rate were both significantly down in Thursday’s loss https://t.co/e2YXb5O7rc
— Fireside Yankees (@FiresideYankees) June 11, 2021

Closer Aroldis Chapman, who'd been nearly untouchable before the "sticky stuff" scandal broke, was absolutely rocked by the Minnesota Twins last night, and his spin rate and velocity were both down significantly.

@Chris_Liss The story surrounds the underlying numbers. The spin rate on Chapman's fastball was down 129 rpm. His fastball velocity was also down 2.3 mph overall. But that wasn't all. The spin rate on Chapman's slider was down 184 rpm. Troubling numbers worth monitoring.
— Scott Morton (@redcoat6) June 11, 2021

Yankees' starter Gerrit Cole had been singled out earlier this week by Twins' third baseman Josh Donaldson as one of the pitchers who'd been using illegal substances to increase tackiness on the ball, and thereby vastly increasing spin rates.

And lo and behold, guess who delivered one of the big 2-run blasts off Chapman in the 9th inning last night? Yes, "The Bringer of Rain" himself.

Josh Donaldson and Nelson Cruz both went yard in the 9th off Chapman for the win 😱 pic.twitter.com/Xiqzns6AY0
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) June 11, 2021

Afterwards, through an interpreter, Chapman's spin was to blame it all on his fastball, not spin rate:

If you have to point out something different, my velocity wasn’t there as it has been before. And the hitters were ready to jump on the fastball tonight.

This was, though, a record-setting performance for the Yankee reliever, in the kind of way that you DON'T want to be setting records: