Former Yankees fan favorite dominates in his MLB debut and causes even more pain
While we were all distracted by the Yankees signing Mark Leiter Jr. and Enyel De Los Santos at the deadline (and who wouldn’t be?!), a former Yankees underground fan favorite also changed clubs.
Acquired by the Diamondbacks as a minor league free agent from the Yankees in the offseason, Andrés Chaparro was the Washington Nationals’ return in the Dylan Floro trade. Arizona, playing catch-up, got a reliable middle reliever while Chaparro got a chance; Washington promoted the red-hot hitter last week, and the 25-year-old got a chance to play a role on a newly formed club. That’s definitely better than Rochester.
Unfortunately for the Yankees, they have now found themselves squarely in Chaparro’s crosshairs. While New York has completed the “Arizona” portion of their schedule in the first week of the season, they will travel to Washington to face the Nationals on August 26-28.
And lo and behold, Chaparro debuted with 3 for 4, three doubles, two runs scored and one RBI.
“I couldn’t have dreamed a more beautiful dream.”
Andrés Chaparro wrote with a double in his debut in the Major League for the @Nationals: https://t.co/1KsvrsC4VQ pic.twitter.com/joydc0HUtg
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) 14 August 2024
We’ve been paranoid about Chaparro all year, but with good reason. He started off impressively enough but stormed through July, hitting .438 with five bombs and 22 RBIs that month, putting him back on the national radar after a bit of obscurity with the Yankees at the Triple-A level.
His glove remains suspect, but diehard fans always knew there was a powerful bat hidden there somewhere after blowing up the exit velocity scale with Double-A Somerset in 2022, hitting 19 bombs in 64 games. Despite being passed over in the Rule 5 Draft after that season, he eventually found his way out of an organization where he was simply blocked (and ignored) and has now fulfilled a long-held dream in DC after hitting four home runs in his first 10 games with the organization.
Andrés Chaparro gets the call!
Chaparro has lit up AAA this season, starting 23 HR and posting a 141 wRC+ through 457 PA
He shows great power stats and aggression with average contact stats. He has a tendency to chase but makes up for it with a high Z-Swing% https://t.co/oJDkHJSqZo pic.twitter.com/hX0YkSDyIf
— Thomas Nestico (@TJStats) 12 August 2024
Hopefully Chaparro will show the Yankees what they were missing in late August, but New York manages to give it their all on the scoreboard and the performance is largely meaningless. That will never happen, but it’s nice to think about.
Those three doubles against Baltimore? Made him the first Nationals rookie to always do that. It’s starting. At least he’s helped the Yankees get into first place for now.
