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Rangers reliever Aroldis Chapman hit Houston slugger Chas McCormick with a 104 MPH fastball in Game 7 of the ALCS. It looked extremely painful as the batter fell to the ground in the box.
Slow motion replays of that hit by pitch look even more gruesome, showing the shockwaves vibrating throughout McCormick’s leg.
With the game well in hand, Chapman entered the matchup in the eighth inning of action. Texas was leading 11-3 at that point in the contest, and he had an 0-2 count on McCormick.
Unfortunately, he lost control of a fastball on the next pitch, plunking the hitter with an absolute heater.
The fastball was clocked at 104 MPH, giving McCormick little time to react as the pitch came zipping his way. Luckily, the wild toss hit the batter in the lower half of his body, or this could’ve been an extremely scary situation.
Chas McCormick remained in the game after getting hit by a 104mph fastball. pic.twitter.com/JseCvpmESK
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) October 24, 2023
McCormick was forced to the seat of his pants as he grimaced in agony. The pitch will be sure to leave a mark.
Videos of that HBP look painful enough, but one social media user decided to slow the image down and zoom in on the moment of impact. Those replays appear even more gruesome.
Shockwaves from 104mph to the Leg. 😳 pic.twitter.com/aKKsqKu0j9
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) October 24, 2023
Fans immediately reacted to the vicious plunk.
“That’s going to be colorful.”
“That hit looked very painful. Ouch!”
“Pretty hard to get over a Game 7 loss at home when you have to wake up with a grapefruit sized bruise every morning for the next 6 weeks.”
“That’s got to hurt something fierce.”
The late hit by pitch added insult to injury in a blowout loss that eliminated Houston from the playoffs.