Minneapolis — Missing most of spring training and the first two and a half weeks of the season hasn’t much helped Andrew Chafin’s acclimation to the Tigers.
“I’d be lucky to name half the guys in here if you lined them up without their jerseys on,” he said before the game Tuesday. “But we’re getting there. I’m just glad to be here. Ready to get rolling.”
Chafin, 31 and one of the best and more durable left-handed relievers in baseball the last four seasons, was finally activated Tuesday, his groin healed at last.
“The groin is a fickle thing,” he said. “It’s either hurt or it’s not and you’ve got to baby it until you know it’s good. We followed the right steps and there are no worries now. I’m 100-percent ready to go.”
The Tigers signed Chafin for two years and $13 million and the expectation is he will eventually being among manager AJ Hinch’s options in the late innings of winnable games. He may have to work his way into that, though.
“He’s ready to go,” Hinch said. “It’s as good as he’s felt. It’s like a normal opening of a season for him. We will get him in as soon as we can and he is going to pitch in important parts of the game. I don’t know if the first time out will be in leverage in the seventh, eighth or ninth innings.
“But you can’t control that all the time. We’ll see.”
Chafin joins a bullpen that’s been the stingiest in baseball this month, posting a 2.29. Not that he’s aware of that.
“I haven’t really been watching games,” he said. “I’m not one to watch baseball away from baseball. I just worked on everything I needed to do to get myself back and be able to help. Hopefully I can help make those numbers even better.”
Chafin appeared in an average of 74 games in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2021. Last season, splitting the year with the Cubs and Athletics, he posted an ERA of 1.83 and a WHIP of 0.93.
“Oh, we can still get 70,” Chafin said with a smile. “It might just hurt a little bit toward the end. We’ll see what we can do.”
Big fix for Barnhart
You don’t win two Gold Gloves as a catcher without being able to control the running game. In 2017, Tucker Barnhart led the National League throwing out 44% of would-be base stealers. In 2020, short sample, but he threw out 34%.
So it was odd to watch him struggle throwing the ball to both second and third base through spring training and into the season. Runners stole seven straight bases while he was behind the plate to start the season. The Yankees swiped three bases on his watch on April 19.
“When a catcher doesn’t throw somebody out, there is a multitude of reasons,” Hinch said.
Those reasons include, Hinch said, the pitcher’s timing, the catcher’s footwork and transfer from glove to hand, his accuracy and the tag.
“With Tucker, he needed more rhythm and timing in his exchange,” Hinch said. “From receiving the ball and the rhythm it takes to throw the ball to second in under two seconds.”
While the Tigers’ pitchers got an on-field refresher course in holding runners from pitching coach Chris Fetter, Barnhart went to work with catching coach Josh Paul. The results, after they spotted the problem and went to work on it, were almost immediate.
Barnhart has thrown out the last two runners who tried to steal on him – Yankees D.J. LaMahieu and Rockies Jose Iglesias.
“It was more of a fundamental thing I was doing,” Barnhart said. “It was a little off and JP and I talked about it a lot. We got back to doing some of the things I used to do when I was throwing the ball really, really well.”
It’s not that he was throwing the ball poorly. In fact, he said his arm is as strong now as it’s ever been. He had just let a bad habit creep into his mechanics.
“To make the right throw, in my opinion, you have to keep your momentum going toward the base you are throwing to, right?” he said. “What I was doing, my torso was turning and my momentum was carrying me toward the third base dugout.
“My momentum was going away from where I was trying to throw the ball and it was causing some flaws.”
He went back to doing some of the drills he did back in 2017.
“I kind of got away from some of the things I was doing with my lower body,” he said. “That was causing me to be a little inaccurate.”
Jump-starting Akil
Akil Baddoo was not in the starting lineup against Twins right-handed starter Chris Paddack.
Wanting Derek Hill’s defense in center field behind lefty Eduardo Rodriguez was part of Hinch’s decision. Baddoo’s 4-for-34 start with nine strikeouts also had something to do with it.
“We’ve got to get Akil going,” Hinch said. “It’s our job as coaches to untap what we got out him last year. He’s in a good place mentally. Now he’s got to get in a good place in the batter’s box.”
Hinch said Baddoo would be back in the starting lineup Wednesday against right-hander Joe Ryan.
Around the horn
…Hinch moved two struggling hitters down a couple notches in his batting order Tuesday. Jeimer Candelario (.158 with 15 strikeouts) moved from fourth to sixth and Jonathan Schoop (.155, 10 strikeouts) moved down to seventh. “Just trying to put the best team together we can against (the Twins) and maybe ease a little pressure off those guys,” Hinch said. “But hitting isn’t easier just because you change spots in the batting order.”
…Hinch said right-hander Casey Mize (elbow sprain) threw off flat ground Monday and Tuesday in Lakeland. “That’s a good sign,” he said. Fellow starter Matt Manning (shoulder inflammation) has not resumed a throwing program.
…Victor Reyes (left quad strain) is also getting treatment in Lakeland.
chris.mccosky@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @cmccosky
Tigers at Twins
► When: 7:40 p.m., Wednesday, Target Field, Minneapolis
► TV/radio: BSD/97.1
► Scouting report
► RHP Michael Pineda (1-0, 0.00, Tigers: How about Big Mike. With virtually no spring training (two short rehab starts at Toledo), he steps on the Comerica Park mound last Thursday and throws five scoreless, three-hit innings in his debut. Useful, no? His command was so precise, he hardly needed to use his secondary pitches. Thirty-eight of his 60 pitches were four-seam fastballs.
► RHP Joe Ryan (2-1, 1.69), Twins: He’s making Twins fans’ acceptance of the Nelson Cruz trade a little more palatable. With his 92-mph heater and wipeout slider (43% whiff rate), he’s limited hitters to a .167 batting average in his eighth starts (five last year, three this year). His WHIP in 42.2 career innings is a stingy 0.82.