Yankees’ Aroldis Chapman details how tattoo of sister led to IL stint, what’s next - nj.com

2022-09-03 01:23:15 By : Ms. Echo Zhang

Yankees reliever Aroldis Chapman was feeling a little better a day after he was put on the 15-day injured list with an infection caused from a new tattoo.AP

OAKLAND, Calif. — Yankees reliever Aroldis Chapman has tattoos all over his body. Both of his arms are filled with ink, he has art work on his back, his legs ...

His newest tattoo was etched into his left calf two Saturdays ago. This one was a portrait of his sister, and everything was fine for a few days.

Then Chapman got sick. He developed a fever and felt terrible.

A doctor broke the news what was wrong.

His tattoo caused an infection.

Chapman was sick enough that he was unavailable to pitch Thursday or Friday night in Oakland. Feeling worse on Saturday, he was placed on the 15-day injured list and spent the day in his hotel bed.

By Sunday, Chapman finally started improving and was back with his teammates to watch the Yankees’ 4-1 loss to the Oakland Athletics.

“I feel much better now,” Chapman said after the game from his locker.

“I’ve gotten some tattoos in the middle of the season, but I’ve never had any issues before,” he said.

It’s been a tough season for Chapman, who will be a free agent after it ends. He lost his closer job early on, went through a couple of bad slumps and now is on the injured list for a second time, this time for a tattoo injury.

“We have a really good bullpen and I’m part of that bullpen, so of course you’re going to feel bad not being there for them,” Chapman said.

Chapman plans to finish the season strong. His last two outings were bad ones, but before that had a good stretch, one run over 9 1/3 innings in nine appearances from July 26 to Aug. 13.

He’s expecting that he’ll be back from his backdated IL stint when he’s first eligible on Sept. 8.

“I don’t think this is going to take away too much time for me,” said Chapman, a seven-time All-Star who is 2-3 with a 4.70 ERA in 36 games this season. “I’m just waiting the next couple of days for everything to heal correctly so that I can start doing all kinds of baseball activities. I think I’ll probably do a bullpen and then right into games.”

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Randy Miller may be reached at rmiller@njadvancemedia.com.

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