Aroldis Chapman will pitch in minor league game Thursday

To hear it from pitchers who return to the mound after frightening incidents in which they take line drives to the face or head, there is a psychological aspect of returning to action that is a significant challenge. Cincinnati Reds closer Aroldis Chapman will try to clear that hurdle on Thursday when he pitches in his first game since taking a line drive to the face this spring.

The plan is for Chapman to pitch for the Dayton Dragons starting on Thursday, the first of at least four rehab appearances. According to manager Bryan Price (quotes from C. Trent Rosecrans of the Cincinnati Enquirer):

"We anticipate a minimum of four outings with the necessary spacing between those outings, so we’re looking at another seven-to-10 days, I’d guess…“…We have a schedule, we have a template, we’re not going through this blindly, but with that said we’d like to have the freedom of allowing him to see how he feels after he throws in these games and not have this teaser for everybody. We’d just like to see him go out there and pitch in a game before we really announce any further outing.”"

In short, it sounds like Pryce would like to keep things in house in case the schedule changes so as to avoid a firestorm of “Chapman has a setback” type stories. When the flame-throwing Chapman does return it will be a significant boost for a Reds team that sputtered out of the gate in 2014.