Aroldis Chapman made his first appearance at New York Yankees spring camp on Thursday when pitchers and catcher reported for the club, and while he acknowledged his excitement to be a member of the historic franchise, he also had another, more important update.
The 27-year-old, who is under investigation for an alleged domestic violence dispute involving his girlfriend, told reporters he's been interviewed by MLB investigators, and if suspended, will file an appeal.
Chapman admitted to police in October that he fired several gunshots in his garage after his girlfriend "found something in his phone that she did not like." He then allegedly pushed his girlfriend up against a wall and choked her.
The closer was not charged for his actions after conflicting accounts and insufficient evidence made a conviction unlikely.
Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred continued to gather information regarding the incident as of last week and hopes to have the case, along with two others involving Jose Reyes and Yasiel Puig, resolved before Opening Day.
"I would hope to deal with all three cases before Opening Day," Manfred told Harvard Law Today in February. "The fact of the matter is the timing in these cases is partially driven by the criminal process. Obviously, information is a lot easier to get from law-enforcement authorities once the criminal process has run its course. So we're a little hamstrung. We're a little at the mercy of the timing of the criminal process, in at least one of the cases."
Despite the allegation of the domestic violence case being public, the Yankees still acquired the flame-thrower for four minor-league players in December after a reported deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers was shut down because of the incident.
