Aroldis Chapman News: Pirates pitcher's controversial deleted post was reportedly an 'innocent family moment' with mother

Over the course of his decade-and-a-half in MLB, Aroldis Chapman has been no stranger to controversy. However, a recent scandal involving the veteran hurler is, by far, the strangest one yet.

On March 12, Chapman posted a story to his personal Instagram account that showed the 36-year old caressing the torso of an elderly woman. Although the composure was bizarre enough on its own, the strangeness reached a new level when it was revealed that the woman in question was his own mother.

"Aroldis Chapman posted this on his IG story" - Baseball King

The Cuban inked a one-year, $10.5 million deal with the Pittsburgh Pirates this offseason. As the video made the rounds, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writer Jason Mackey was able to confirm that the woman in question was, in fact, Chapman was having "an innocent moment" with his own mother.

The video is accompanied by Spanish language chatter, making it difficult for English speakers to discern the dynamics at play. Mackey claimed that in the clip, Chapman was joking about being a "mommy's boy" who breastfed far after the acceptable age to do so.

"Aroldis Chapman" - RedsCards

Although this may indeed be the strangest episode of Chapman's illustrious career, it is far from the only time that he has made headlines for the wrong reasons. In December 2015, days before he was traded to the New York Yankees, police responded to a domestic violence call at Chapman's home in Florida. After alledgedly assaulting his girlfriend, Chapman fired eight gunshots into his garage door. No charges came about on account of the interaction.

After defecting from Cuba in 2009, Chapman signed with the Cincinnati Reds. The following season, a fastball recorded at 105.3 set a record. Despite his strong relief ability earlier in his career, Aroldis Chapman has witnessed his numbers slide in recent years, and was ostensibly been relegated to journeyman status.

Bizarre Aroldis Chapman video leaves media pundits speechless

Although the post has since been removed from Instagram, media commentators had a field day grappling with the meaning behind this most innapropriate encounter. The most cogent argument came from Mackey himself, who wrote in the Post-Gazette:

"My own $0.02 is that it still comes across as very weird. Cultural differences or not, tough for anybody online or anywhere to make that connection."

In the past, teams seem to have shown considerable leeway when it comes to Chapman's off-field indiscretions. However, as the left-hander ages, it may be hard to explain a moment as unexplainable as this one is.