PHOENIX -- Last summer,, for the first time in his memory, Jhoulys Chacín had no desire to throw a baseball. Well, he made an exception to one person -- and now the Rockies are benefitting.

Signed on the eve of Opening Day, Chacín began the season as a little-used long reliever. Now, taking advantage of an uptick in velocity and pure stuff coming from rest and a lighter innings load, Chacín (2-1, 5.34 ERA) is receiving important late-game innings in the Rockies’ bullpen. Additionally, he is the team’s most experienced player, and it would be hard to find one more beloved.

And the Rockies have a 5-year-old to thank.

Last Aug. 1, the Braves designated Chacín for assignment after just two appearances. In the year prior, Chacín had been let go by the Brewers (for whom he started Game 7 against the Dodgers with a World Series trip on the line in 2018), the Red Sox (who had given him six games/five starts at the end of ’19) and the Twins (during the pandemic).

Feeling squeezed out like many experienced workers who see savvy devalued in favor of younger and lower-paid workers, Chacín was tired of it all. He wasn’t ready to retire, but the job insecurity was tiring. So he turned down other teams.

“I kinda lost a little bit of the love for baseball,” he acknowledged.

When Chacín took his ball and went home, his son, Dominic, was waiting.

Chacín and his wife Alba also have a 10-year-old daughter, Niccole, whom dad describes as "very calm.”

Dominic? Well, calm isn’t his thing.

“He’s only 5, and he loves baseball -- he’s crazy about baseball,” Chacín said. “The way he loves the game reminds me of when I was young. Even a couple years ago when I was pitching in the playoffs, it didn’t matter what was going on off the field.

"When I went home, he wanted to throw to me every day. Then we were watching baseball, every day. I started watching games with him. He watches baseball all day on the iPad. Games. Old Home Run Derbys. And I started thinking, ‘I can’t just leave it like that.’”

Chacín’s very presence with the Rockies represents a return to his joyous baseball youth. He was 16 when signed out of Maracaibo, Venezuela, beginning a pro baseball existence that’s covered almost half his life. He debuted in the Majors in 2009 at age 21, and was a starting-rotation mainstay from 2010-14.

His return to a club where he is in the top 10 in many career categories also represents a coming to terms with what is, at times, an unsteady business.

By the spring of 2015, Chacín had made all but one of his 110 starts in a Rockies uniform (10th on the club’s career list), sometimes serving at the No. 1 starter. But he battled shoulder injuries in '14 and was limited to 11 starts (1-7, 5.40 ERA) while being paid $4.85 million. During the spring, he was also dealing with a herniated disk in his back. Still, it was a surprise when the Rockies, in one of Jeff Bridich’s first notable moves as general manager, released Chacín on March 22, 2015.

Chacín accepted the decision in real time, and even now speaks of it with understanding.

“I know that I wasn't 100 percent by them, so they make a decision -- this is a business, too,” Chacín said. “So I had to go forward, go for different stuff. I never was mad about it.”

Chacín was back in the Majors with the D-backs by the end of that season, then bounced to the Braves and Angels in '16 and Padres in ’17. He regained footing with the Brewers in ’18, and not just by going 15-8 with a 3.50 ERA while leading the NL in starts with 35. Chacín blanked the Rockies for five innings of Game 2 of the NL Division Series, a 4-0 decision in an eventual three-game sweep.

But a 3-10 start with the Brewers in 2019 started a nomadic period that led Chacín to just go home at the end of last season.

Energized by the family time, Chacín signed a Minor League deal contract with the Yankees in January. He knew there were no guarantees, but he also believed his ability and know-how would put him back in the Majors.

One day toward the end of Spring Training, Rockies coaches were watching the television at their training center in Scottsdale, Ariz., when Chacín made the final appearance of a solid spring for the Yankees.

“We were told that there's a chance he was going to be available,” Rockies pitching coach Steve Foster said. “And every man sitting in there said we want that guy. Wow. And we told Jeff that day.”

“We didn't hesitate, and he wanted to come back here.”

Chacín appeared in just eight of the first 52 games, usually in low-leverage situations. But when Chacín earned a 10th-inning win over the Brewers on June 18, then threw two solid innings against the Brewers the next day, the Rockies had a trusted late-game arm. He has made a living with the slider, now with varying speeds, plus a cutter. He adds a fastball that hasn’t been seen in awhile.

“He’s touching 95 [mph] and pitching anywhere from 90-to-94 [mph],” Foster said. "To see that kind of velocity again in a veteran player is a testament to his work ethic.

“He’s a tremendous teammate. He speaks great Spanish and English. So he connects with all. He has a gravitating, incredible personality that fits so perfect at the right time for us.”

His old team, the Brewers, noticed.

“They said, ‘Hey, what are you doing?'” Chacin said, smiling at having regained the ability to go high in the strike zone the way he did early in his career.

Now, Chacín is more like his son than his former self.

He gesticulated and expressed disappointment in himself in the dugout after yielding Avasaíl Garcia’s seventh-inning home run in Milwaukee on June 26. The Rockies Chi Chi González had been in position for a win.

He pounds his glove after each good late-inning appearance.

“I tell the guys, you don’t always win, so you have to enjoy every game,” he said.

Chacín let loose after a scoreless eighth on Saturday against the Cardinals. The Rockies would lose in 10 innings, but Chacín finished the night with another reminder of the joy of baseball.

Alba and Niccole went to the field to take in the postgame fireworks show -- part of a tradition at Coors Field, where they not only allow players’ families on the field, but also fans from the outfield seats.

But Dominic had other ideas for his dad.

“I’m trying to find my gear and he is running around -- he wants to run the bases,” Chacín said. “He’s like, ‘I’m Trevor Story,’ or he’s imitating Raimel Tapia.”