JESSE CHAVEZ
8/21/83; '02 42nd (Texas); Riverside (Cal) CC
R/R; 6-2, 153
| Level |
W-L-Sv |
G |
GS |
IP |
H |
HR |
BB |
K |
BB/9 |
K/9 |
WHIP |
OAVG |
ERA |
| 2003 A- (Tex) |
2-2-1 |
17 |
8 |
55.0 |
63 |
5 |
31 |
48 |
5.0 |
7.8 |
1.70 |
.286 |
4.58 |
| 2004
A (Tex) |
6-10-0 |
27 |
22 |
123.0 |
148 |
8 |
35 |
96 |
2.6 |
7.0 |
1.49 |
.306 |
4.68 |
| 2005 AA (Tex) |
4-3-1 |
31 |
0 |
57.0 |
71 |
10 |
25 |
27 |
4.0 |
4.3 |
1.68 |
.316 |
5.68 |
| 2005
A+ (Tex) |
0-0-2 |
11 |
0 |
24.1 |
16 |
2 |
9 |
31 |
3.3 |
11.5 |
1.03 |
.182 |
2.22 |
| 2006 AAA (Tex) |
0-0-0 |
1 |
0 |
2.0 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
0.0 |
13.5 |
1.50 |
.333 |
4.50 |
| 2006 AAA |
2-1-0 |
12 |
0 |
17.0 |
18 |
0 |
9 |
15 |
4.8 |
7.9 |
1.59 |
.273 |
4.24 |
| 2006 AA (Tex) |
2-5-4 |
38 |
0 |
59.0 |
54 |
5 |
28 |
70 |
4.3 |
10.7 |
1.39 |
.245 |
4.42 |
| 2007 AAA |
3-3-2 |
46 |
1 |
80.1 |
94 |
4 |
17 |
65 |
1.9 |
7.3 |
1.38 |
.290 |
3.92 |
| 2008 NL
|
0-1-0 |
15 |
0 |
15.0 |
20 |
2 |
9 |
16 |
5.4 |
9.6 |
1.93 |
.328 |
6.60 |
| 2008 AAA |
2-6-14 |
51 |
0 |
68.2 |
58 |
8 |
22 |
70 |
2.9 |
9.2 |
1.17 |
.225 |
3.80 |
| 2009 NL |
1-4-0 |
73 |
0 |
67.1 |
69 |
11 |
22 |
47 |
2.9 |
6.3 |
1.35 |
.264 |
4.01 |
The Pirates obtained Chavez from Texas for Kip Wells at the 2006 trade deadline. He originally signed with the Rangers as a draft-and-follow. He throws a mid-90s fastball, but he struggled as a starter. In fact, for a couple years he wasn't that much better as a reliever beyond getting his K rate up to good levels. He wasn't impressive at Indianapolis after the trade. He did, however, have a strong fall campaign in Arizona. Chavez wasn't eligible for the Rule 5 draft and thus was not added to the 40-man roster after the season. He spent the year in AAA and didn't have an impressive season. For a guy with such good stuff, he gave up a lot of hits and his K rate was just OK, although he did improve his control. LH batters hit .326 against him. He was not added to the roster in the off-season, but was not selected in the Rule 5 draft.
Chavez returned to AAA in 2008, spending most of the season
at Indianapolis and having a good year. He allowed far fewer hits and got his K
rate up to a batter an inning while still not walking many. He still had a huge
platoon split, as LH batters hit .282 against him and RH batters hit .177. Of
course, that's better than the other way around. The Pirates added him to the
roster and called him up in late August. He mostly struggled, allowing runs in
seven of thirteen outings. He tended to look good against a couple hitters and
then come apart. Sometimes the problem was his control and sometimes he got
fastballs out over the plate. The K rate, though, provided some sign of promise.
Possibly for that reason, John Russell started using Chavez in close games while
the other inexperienced pitchers, like Romulo Sanchez and Marino Salas, seldom
appeared in games.
In 2009, Chavez was a surprise choice for the
25-man roster at the end of spring training. He had a terrible spring, but
the competition he was facing was very poor. The Pirates would have kept
Evan Meek instead of Chavez, but Meek ran into a series of health issues.
Chavez was expected to head back to AAA once Meek was ready, but he pitched well
and Craig Hansen got hurt, so he stayed
with the team all year. He was one of the team's most effective relievers in the
first half of the season, as he finished June with a 3.21 ERA and good peripheral numbers.
Once Sean Burnett and John Grabow were traded, the Pirates looked to Chavez more often than anybody else as their principal setup man (although setup opportunities were extremely scarce during the season's last two months). Part of the reason they went with him often in setup situations was that, without a LHP in the bullpen, the Pirates wanted Chavez pitching to LH batters due to the fact that his main offspeed pitch is a change. He was, in fact, tough against LH batters, who managed only a .682 OPS against him. RH batters, however, lit him up to the tune of .878. The overall result was a string of bad outings and an ERA of 5.73 in July and August. His K rate also plummeted, as he fanned only 19 in his last 33.2 IP. For a guy with his stuff and surprisingly good control, he gets hit too hard and has problems with gopher balls. He's tended to improve gradually and slowly throughout his career, though, and he did make significant strides in 2009. He'll almost certainly be in the bullpen in 2010, although it'd be best if he was used in somewhat lower-leverage situations rather than the 8th inning.
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