A profile of Aroldis Chapman, a pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds who is known for his 100-mile-an-hour fastballs and his controversial personal life:

“Communist Cuba: Geographically a place that lies as close to Miami as Cincinnati does to Louisville, but in every other sense seems so very far away. Chapman has gone through not just culture shock but culinary shock, linguistic shock, even financial shock. More than that, he’s had to transition from a communist country to a capitalist one. ‘When you don’t have any freedom,’ says Ebro, himself a native of Cuba, ‘and you come to a place with freedom…’ The journalist pauses. ‘Not everyone reacts in a good way.’

“So it makes sense that Chapman might show up late for a game at Triple-A or strike up a relationship with a stripper. It’s a free country, after all. And then there’s Cuba’s other big legacy: From the day Chapman walked out of that hotel in Rotterdam, he has been pursued and preyed upon.”