Chafin makes Rangers debut in bounceback year

This story was excerpted from Kennedi Landry’s Rangers Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

Andrew Chafin stood by his locker in the visitors' clubhouse at Busch Stadium, having just arrived in St. Louis to join his new team the day after the Trade Deadline. Getting traded is a familiar feeling for the 34-year-old, who has now been dealt four times in the last five years at the Deadline.

And when he joined the Rangers this year (in exchange for Minor Leaguers Chase Lee and Joseph Montalvo), he hadn’t even been given a jersey yet before the Rangers' media contingent converged on him to ask the most important question: What’s up with the mustache?

“I don't know, [I’ve had it] forever,” Chafin said with a chuckle. “I mean, I've had it every season for a long time. I like shaving at the end of every season because my wife hates it. I let everything grow back after that. I told her I got better numbers with a mustache. We gotta let it ride.”

Well the analytics don’t lie, at least not this season.

At the time of the trade, Chafin had posted a 3.16 ERA in 37 innings across 41 relief appearances, and he had struck out 50 while walking 16 with Detroit. He allowed two runs in his Rangers debut against the Red Sox on Aug. 2 (Texas ended up losing 11-6), but followed up with a perfect inning the next day in a Texas 7-4 win.

This is all coming off of a tough 2023, in which he posted a 4.73 ERA in 51 1/3 innings between the Diamondbacks and Brewers.

So what led to his bounceback year?

“Getting more outs than giving up hits, it's always a good formula, just getting them out before they get on base,” Chafin joked. “I can’t tell you that because then the hitters might read it.”

That being said, Chafin has been exceptional this season, even with an ERA over 10 in the month of May.

“Giving up weak contact hits through the four-hole,” Chain said of his month-long struggle. “I don't know if I'm gonna call it bad luck or bad positioning. A lot of factors. But yeah, I mean, I had a lot of weak contacts for hits and they would string three or four singles together in an inning. It would be like 60 [mph] off the bat and it’s like I did my job as best I could. I guess I started missing a few more barrels as of late. If they don't put it in play, it’s a little easier to get them out.”

As for how he’ll be used with the Rangers, it’s clear the club wanted a left-handed high-leverage option to go along with veteran right-handers David Robertson and Kirby Yates at the back of the bullpen. In his two appearances so far, Chafin has pitched the ninth inning of a blowout and in the sixth inning of a close game.

“He's a guy who has pitched in high-leverage situations and he'll continue to do that to help us out to help take a load off some of the other guys like [José] Leclerc and [Josh] Sborz,” manager Bruce Bochy said following the trade. "It's nice to have some other options from the left side in the bullpen. That's a nice luxury.”