While the nation’s collective baseball conscious has been dazzled by Washington Nationals pitching phenom Stephen Strasburg and his borderline dominant first few starts in the major leagues, the other major pitching prospect acquisition of the past offseason, Aroldis Chapman, has been middling in Triple-A ball, paying his dues and developing, biding time before his inevitable call-up to the parent Cincinnati Reds (whenever that may be).

By no means does this qualify Chapman as some sort of bust; in fact, that couldn’t be further from the truth, but it is fair to say that Chapman has been erratic and a little inconsistent, a proverbial “Jekyll and Hyde” sort of existence.

Tonight in his outing for the Triple-A Louisville Bats, Chapman, while not dominant, put on display the better of this two sides, albeit in a losing effort. The Cuban left-hander pitched six innings, giving up four runs (only two earned, however), striking out six and walking four. Chapman took the loss as the Durham Bulls tacked on four more runs in the finals innings, all culminating in a 8-2 victory over the Bats.

The loss tonight brings Chapman’s overall record this season to an even 5-5 with a 4.11 ERA and 58 strikouts with 30 walks allowed in his last ten starts. It’s worth reiterating — not bad numbers by any stretch of the imagination, aside from those with unrealistic expectations. What Chapman has displayed thus far with Louisville is that he is nothing more than a victim of what plagues a lot of rookies trying to gain their traction in professional baseball. He’s certainly been inconsistent, with his various starts existing as lessons in contrast.

He’s had his share of dominant performances to be sure; look no further than his consecutive starts in late May against Lehigh Valley and Gwinnett, respectively:

5/19 vs. LHV: 5.2 IP, 3 hits, 0 ER, 7 SO, 3 BB

5/27 vs. GWN: 5 IP, 3 hits, 0 ER, 7 SO, 1 BB

He has been able to overpower hitters, routinely topping 100 mph on the radar gun, displaying the sort of raw physical tools and skills that made him such a highly-valued player. After all, how many lefties consistently pull off that kind of speed, let alone one who stands at 6’4″ and is only 22 years-old.

But just as sharp as Chapman has been in some of his starts, he has been just as maddening, puzzling, and downright dreadful in just as many, with his 3.1 IP, 8 ER outing against Rochester on May 14th, as well as a 2 IP, 7 ER start against Pawtucket on June 7th coming to mind. His speed has never been a problem whatsoever, but his control has been suspect at best, with a wild pitch or two being close to a norm in his appearances. At this time of year, when many hoped Chapman would continue to get better and better, he has dropped his last three decisions, although two of those losses came from a lack of run support.

The Reds have undoubtedly invested a lot of money in Chapman and placed a lot of importance on his lanky shoulders, but any issues that he’s been having shouldn’t be too much of a concern. Any casual observer can point to a case like Strasburg or even Reds rookie pitcher Mike Leake and use a simple comparison to deem Chapman as a bust thus far, but it’s really not that basic. Strasburg (especially) and Leake came into professional baseball as polished prospects, players who many figured could have an immediate impact on their major league clubs this year.

Chapman, despite all of this promise and potential, is something of a work in progress. The physical tools are there, yes, but not all of the so-called pieces are in place. Control still remains an issue, as well as the mastery of an array of off-speed pitches, but again, few expected Chapman to be in a position to be called up at this point in the season, if even at all this year.

Getting immediate returns on a talented prospect is obviously something that has some merit (just ask the fine folks in DC and Cincinnati), but it should never be so important that it trumps player development. Few doubt that Aroldis Chapman will one day be an impact pitcher in Major League Baseball, and his time in Louisville has done nothing to prove otherwise. Simply, Chapman’s professional career has been nothing more than a chronicle of a developing pitcher who is taking his unavoidable lumps and is learning from them and becoming that much better.

In a day and age of 24-hour sports coverage, the blogosphere, micro-managing in professional baseball and the like, patience is something that seems to have fallen by the wayside, but it bears repeating for relatively long-suffering Reds fans in the case with Chapman: time will tell whether he is a star or not, but what is certain is that it will take time, coaching and fine-tuning for us to ultimately find out.