MINNEAPOLIS -- Andrew Chafin is joining a group of pitchers that has -- improbably -- made the Detroit Tigers’ bullpen among the best in baseball through the first two-and-a-half weeks of the season.
This was news to him.
“I haven’t really been watching games,” he admitted. “I’m not one to watch baseball away from baseball.”
Chafin has been in Lakeland, Fla., trying to heal a groin injury that sidelined him in spring training. He was activated from the injured list on Tuesday before the Tigers opened a three-game series at Minnesota.
While he’s been gone, the Tigers’ bullpen has posted an impressive 2.30 ERA in 66 2/3 innings of work, striking out 57 and walking 23.
Chafin said he was glad to hear it. “Hopefully we can make the numbers even better,” he said.
That’s what the Tigers were hoping when Chafin was signed to a two-year, $13 million deal during spring training.
Chafin posted a 1.83 ERA in 68 2/3 innings between two teams last year. He’s not overpowering but still gets his share of strikeouts. He’s known for keeping the ball on the ground and in the park.
“We’re going to get him in there as soon as we can,” said Tigers manager A.J. Hinch. “I don’t know if his first outing is going to in a leverage) situation in the seventh, eighth or ninth, but you can’t control that all the time.”
Chafin made just a couple of rehab outings -- in Lakeland and then in Triple-A Toledo -- but he said he feels about how he would when wrapping a normal spring training.
He said he felt “progressively better” each time he stepped on the mound, with the final outing in Toledo on Sunday feeling “perfectly normal.”
“I was just getting my groin back to where it needed to be,” he said. “I mean, I know how to pitch. That’s something I’m not really going to forget anytime soon. It’s just a matter of getting healthy and getting strong in all the right areas.”
Because he arrived late to spring and ended up spending much of his time in the training room, he doesn’t know a ton of his teammates. Nor did he sign up for an MLB.tv subscription to keep tabs on them from Lakeland.
“I’d be lucky to name half the guys in here,” said Chafin, surveying the clubhouse. “But we’re getting there. I’m just excited to be here and get the ball rolling.”
Ad Choices