Yankees: Aroldis Chapman provides update on his return to team

The feeling is that Aroldis Chapman could rejoin the Yankees very soon.

Remember when Aroldis Chapman came back to Yankee Stadium after being away from the team for weeks because of a positive COVID-19 test and then promptly made his way to Scranton for whatever reason? That had a lot of Yankees fans asking questions.

Since then, it was said the team was taking their time with the left-hander. After all, the bullpen was absolutely cruising before the series against the Rays, and Zack Britton is leading Major League Baseball with seven saves already.

Now, Chapman has weighed in on his situation, and addressed how he’s feeling after being away from the team for so long.

Aroldis Chapman is ... almost back. Info on his impending return and his coronavirus experience here. https://t.co/0ji3H0PnIo
— Brendan Kuty (@BrendanKutyNJ) August 12, 2020

“I feel good,” Chapman said via the team’s Spanish interpreter, per Brendan Kuty of NJ.com. “I felt good throwing and playing catch. I faced hitters for the first time (Tuesday). It felt better than expected. I think I’m going to have another outing Thursday or Friday, and I hope I can rejoin the team after that.”

Pitching coach Matt Blake weighed in as well, reiterating that the team wants to continue taking it slow with the closer. After Chapman’s next outing, the Yankees will see if he needs one more tune-up before returning to the bigs. If not, he could be back as early as this weekend, it seems.

Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman throws 25 pitches in sim game at Alternate Site at PNC Field. Faced eight batters. Struck out two and walked one. Didn’t appear to give up any hits (I say that because, from up here, you can’t see where the balls land). pic.twitter.com/vRw3w0W3GK
— Conor Foley (@RailRidersTT) August 11, 2020

Truth be told, the Yankees are going to need him back relatively soon. The bullpen has been used fairly heavily over the last week, and now without Giancarlo Stanton for about a month and Aaron Judge all of a sudden dealing with an injury, shutting it down at the end of games will be of paramount importance.

But there’s nothing to be imminently worried about at the moment. The team is chugging along, the bullpen is doing just fine, and the Yankees have 12 wins. When Chapman comes back, whenever that is, they’ll be even stronger.

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The feeling is that Aroldis Chapman could rejoin the Yankees very soon.

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