Aroldis Chapman Gets Hit in the Face, Brings out the Troll

Sep 6, 2013; Cincinnati, OH, USA; Cincinnati Reds closer Aroldis Chapman (54) delivers a pitch during the top of the 9th inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Great American Ball Park. The Reds won the game 3-2. Mandatory Credit: Rob Leifheit-USA TODAY Sports

No matter what, as a professional athlete, there is an element of risk. Perhaps, in a non contact sport such as baseball, there is less of a risk of a catastrophic injury. Unfortunately, however, despite the best attempts by major league baseball, there will still be frightening incidents that will occur. One such incident took place last night, when Aroldis Chapman was hit in the face by a line drive off the bat of Salvador Perez during their Cactus League matchup.

According to the Cincinnati Reds twitter account, Chapman has fractures above his left eye and his nose. He never lost consciousness, but is staying at least overnight in the hospital while doctors make certain that Chapman is doing well. Should he manage to have escaped this frightening incident with injuries that, in the grand scheme of things, are a lot less severe than could have been hoped immediately after the incident, Chapman will have been very lucky indeed.

While it would be expected that everyone would wish Aroldis Chapman a fast recovery and hope that he will make a triumphant return to the mound in the near future, that is unfortunately not the case. As always, in such situations, there are those who feel a need to delve down to the lowest level of humanity, finding joy in such incidents. For instance, there is this fine example of humanity, who felt the need to call Chapman getting hit in the head ‘karma.’

Yes, Chapman threw the ball high and inside to Nick Swisher last year. Yes, it is debatable as to whether or not there was intent behind it. Yet, regardless of what team you happen to be a fan of, finding joy in watching someone get hit in the face with a line drive is utterly contemptible.

Even though the tweet was taken down and the obligatory apology was posted, just the fact that someone, in that moment, felt that such a reaction was the correct response to what they witnessed is almost incomprehensible. Now, that person gets their fifteen seconds of internet fame, and then their world will continue on without repercussion.

Unfortunately, whenever there are incidents like the one that Aroldis Chapman suffered on the mound last night against the Royals, there will be those who find pleasure in another person’s pain. There will be some half-witted tweet or Facebook status that will become viral, causing outraged articles all over the internet (yes, I realize this post is feeding into that). Perhaps, instead of giving these people the attention that they are so transparently seeking, it would be best if we were to just ignore those people. maybe then, people would stop posting such ridiculous statements.

We here at Kings of Kauffman hope for a quick recovery for Aroldis Chapman, and hope to see him back on the mound soon.