Former Blue Jays reliever plans to pitch in 2025 at 41 years old
Former Toronto Blue Jays reliever Jesse Chavez plans to pitch in 2025. Chavez 41, is a seventeen year veteran who has played for nine different clubs in his career.
You may remember the blunder of a trade that sent Liam Hendriks to Oakland in return for Chavez in 2015.
Chavez had a 4.57 ERA in 39 games, with 42 strikeouts and 10 walks in 41⅓ innings with Toronto.
His propensity to give up home runs in key situations is what sent him packing for the Dodgers in an even worse trade for Mike Bolsinger.
A decade and seven teams later, Chavez managed to reinvent himself and pitched respectively over the years and is once again a free agent.
Despite his age, Chavez has now turned in four straight seasons with a sub-4.00 ERA.
Most recently in 63 1/3 innings for the Atlanta Braves, he notched a sharp 3.13 ERA with a passable, albeit below-average 20.8% strikeout rate and a quality 7.2% walk rate.
Atlanta generally used Chavez in low-leverage spots last year, but he was a member of the team's setup core as recently as 2023, when he picked up 13 holds and regularly appeared in medium- and high-leverage situations over the life of 36 games.
Chavez's sinker sat at a career-low 90.7 mph, and his cutter lagged further behind at 88.5 mph on average.
But the crafty right-hander nevertheless enjoyed plenty of success, due in no small part to solid command and a plethora of weak contact.
His collective earned run average dating back to 2021 is a sparkling 2.91, and he's logged at least average walk rates every year along the way, with the '24 campaign being the only one of the four wherein his strikeout rate was below-average.
Chavez has posted better-than-average grounder rates in each of the past two seasons, too.
Another minor league deal between Chavez and the Braves isn't necessarily a foregone conclusion, but it sure wouldn't come as much of a surprise, either.
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