‘A unique human being’
Chafin brings personality to dominant bullpen
Cubs reliever Andrew Chafin isn’t hard to miss in the outfield during batting practice.
Chafin, rocking a look fit for the 1970s with a mustache and curls popping out beneath his cap, goes all out after fly balls off his teammates’ bats. The 30-year-old lefthander always has been a power shagger. He would rather sprint hard in pursuit of BP balls instead of mindless pregame sprints from line to line as part of his conditioning.
Sometimes his aggressive shagging means robbing a teammate of a BP home run. He victimized Ian Happ before a game last week at Petco Park in San Diego.
“I guess I’m just at a point in my career now where I can actually have a little bit more fun with it and be more relaxed in regards to the big picture,” Chafin told the Tribune. “Go out and have more fun, less stress or whatever.”
Chafin’s laid-back persona brings a relaxed vibe to the Cubs clubhouse and dugout.
“Having Chafin, there’s a lot of bantering back and forth,” reliever Dan Winkler said. “We have a lot of similar personalities in (the bullpen), so there’s a lot of laughs. It’s just really loose no matter what’s going on, and that’s a tribute to our success and keeping it simple and not overthinking anything.”
Every team needs guys who help keep things light. A 162-game schedule over six months is a grind. There’s a lot of time spent together at the field and on road trips. Personalities like Chafin bring another element beyond his on-field success. In April, he asked for Cubs fans’ help to find an old beater car with a manual transition that he could buy to use in Chicago during the season; his truck is too big to navigate the narrow city streets. Chafin ultimately found a red Firebird and occasionally tweets updates about how the car is running.
Chafin also has a YouTube channel (ChafinFamilyFarms) on which he has uploaded videos of his car, a look at what an off day at his farm in Ohio entails and a tour of a boat he purchased this spring. After spending the first nine years of professional career in the Arizona Diamondbacks organization, Chafin wanted to take advantage of living close to Lake Michigan in-season. So he convinced his wife during spring training to let him have a budget to buy a boat, wanting one that has a cabin, which would allow him use it when it’s raining.
Chafin found a boat on Facebook Marketplace and sent his brother to Chicago to look at it in person to make sure it was in good enough shape. Chafin’s YouTube videos allow Cubs fans to get a sense of his humor and personality. In the process, he has become a fan favorite, though his performances help as well.
“Given the fan base here, I thought it’d be a really good opportunity to try to interact with the fans a little bit more, give them behind-the-scenes glimpses of what I do,” Chafin said.
Cubs manager David Ross called Chafin a character who is comfortable in his own skin.
“He is a unique human being that I think brings a smile to a lot of people’s faces,” Ross said Saturday. “Just the way he interacts, who he is to his core. He’s very simple-minded. The look of the ‘stashe and the curly hair, it makes me smile every time I see him in the locker room.
“Those type of guys that have experience and understand who they are, they’re leaders in their own way.”
Chafin is able to balance keeping things fun in the bullpen and being able to lock in when Ross goes to him, often in key spots in late innings when the Cubs are trying to preserve a lead. Ross credits veteran relievers like Chafin for their consistency and helping breed success among their less experienced arms, particularly Justin Steele, Keegan Thompson and Trevor Megill.
“(Chafin shows) how they need to act, how to get ready, trying to direct these guys on what it’s like to be a bullpen pitcher, what it’s like to be available daily, find your routine,” Ross said. “Chafin and a lot of those veterans down there are huge examples and do a really nice job of maintaining expectations and consistency.”
Chafin’s value goes beyond his experience and reliability as an effective lefty in high-leverage spots. He has shown over his eight-year big-league career that he can handle a heavy workload too. He appeared in 71 games for the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2017 and 77 games in 2018 and 2019; the latter two years marked the third- and fifth-most appearances in the majors those respective seasons. Chafin is on pace for similar usage in 2021. He has pitched in 45% of the Cubs’ games, with his 29 appearances tied for ninth among MLB relievers. Chafin has earned Ross’ trust since joining the team in a trade from the Diamondbacks in August.
Coming into Saturday’s game against the St. Louis Cardinals, Chafin has a 1.98 ERA, 0.915 WHIP, 0.9 Wins Above Replacement and 196 ERA+ in 27 ⅓ innings. Anchored by Chafin, right-hander Ryan Tepera and closer Craig Kimbrel, the Cubs have built a deep bullpen that has become one of the best in baseball nearly three months into the season.
“I’ve always been one to just take the ball every time they call my name,” Chafin said. “Honestly, I just look at everything as one pitch at a time and it doesn’t matter the situation. Like (one game) I came in, we were up for four or five runs and I was just going out there and executing pitches one pitch at a time and just doing the best I can every single pitch. Everything else is going to take care of itself.”