Jesse Chavez deserves All-Star consideration, and Braves teammates are making sure we know

ATLANTA — To be clear, Jesse Chavez isn’t campaigning to make the All-Star team, or even biting on the suggestion from a reporter that he’s pitched well enough to warrant strong consideration for the honor, which would be a first in his long career.

But his Braves teammates are waging a campaign for the veteran right-hander to be selected for the July 16 All-Star Game in Arlington, Texas. Some wore new political campaign-styled T-shirts Tuesday with a cartoon depiction of a bespectacled Chavez beneath the slogans “Chavez ’24” and “Jesse Chavez for All-Star” and above the line “Get Coach to Texas!”

“Coach” is Chavez’s nickname in the Braves clubhouse, where he’s immensely popular and something of a legend in recent seasons with stellar performances every time he returns to the Braves, after not-so-stellar work with other teams that released him or traded him back to Atlanta.

“This isn’t a charity (thing), this isn’t a gimmick,” said Braves left-hander A.J. Minter, who returned from the injured list Tuesday after missing a month with left-hip inflammation, and wore the Chavez ’24 shirt during the pregame workout. “Last year he had the broken leg, unfortunately, when he got hit with the line drive. He should’ve been an All-Star last year.”

Did we mention that he’s 40? And Chavez still pitching at an elite level as a reliever, a role widely regarded as the most demanding in baseball and, for the most part, the domain of much younger men whose careers usually last about half as long as Chavez’s, if they’re lucky and their pitching elbow or shoulder doesn’t give out sooner.

Now in his 17th season, Chavez has a 1.51 ERA in 27 appearances and has limited hitters to a puny .054 average (2-for-37) with runners in scoring position, the best in the majors among pitchers who’ve faced at least 30 batters in RISP situations. The ERA was 1.30 before Chavez gave up a solo homer in the ninth inning of Tuesday’s 5-3 series-opening loss to the San Francisco Giants when he pitched the final 1 2/3 innings after entering with runners on the corners and one out in the eighth.

What the shirt says. #BravesCountry pic.twitter.com/VJEiZZb2Pi

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It wasn’t a banner night for one of the Braves’ strongest All-Star candidates, starter Reynaldo López, who didn’t make it out of the fifth inning after being staked to a 2-0 lead on back-to-back homers by Austin Riley and Sean Murphy in the second. He gave it back on consecutive homers by Jorge Soler and LaMonte Wade Jr. in the fifth inning, those two homers representing half of his previous season total allowed.

López issued four walks for the second consecutive start, and exited after 4 1/3 innings with the score 2-2, having thrown 101 pitches including 29 in a four-batter, three-strikeout first inning. He was assisted by two sensational running catches by center fielder Jarred Kelenic to rob Matt Chapman of extra-base hits in the second and third innings, the latter saving two runs.

For Chavez, this fast start is familiar. He had a 1.55 ERA in 31 appearances last season through June 14, the day his shin was broken by a smashed one-hopper off the bat of the Detroit Tigers’ Miguel Cabrera. He didn’t pitch again until Sept. 20.

Since the beginning of last season, Chavez had a 1.44 ERA and 1.078 WHIP in 62 appearances before Tuesday, with 68 strikeouts in 68 2/3 innings.

To repeat, the man is forty.

“It’s awesome,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said earlier Tuesday when told that teammates were campaigning to get Chavez on the All-Star team. “You look at his numbers and they’re right there with a lot of them that are going to make that (All-Star team). He’s kind of put himself in the running, we’ll see where it goes.”

So, how does Chavez feel about being mentioned, for the second year in a row, as a potential first-time All-Star? Has he considered the possibility?

“No. I want to do a full year,” Chavez said, matter-of-factly, then smiled his warm smile and explained why he’s not thinking about the All-Star team. “I want to put a full year together. That’s my biggest thing every year. I just want to do a full year. I don’t worry about that (All-Star) stuff. If I could have put a full year together, that means it was an All-Star year for me. I don’t worry about a half-year, three-quarters of a year. I want to put a full year together.”

He thought for a moment and added, “It’s been a while since I put a full year together healthy or (with one team), you know? So I would like to do that and see what happens. Definitely got a chance here.”

Snitker and Minter know the odds are against Chavez because of his role as a middle reliever. The vast majority of relievers who’ve made All-Star teams are closers, and most others are setup men who are backup closers. But there have been exceptions, relievers who made All-Star teams with few or no saves before the All-Star break.

For example, in 2010, relievers Evan Meek of the Pirates and Hung-Chi Kuo of the Dodgers made the All-Star team. At the break that year, Meek had a 1.11 ERA in 40 appearances but had blown four of five save opportunities. Kuo had an 0.99 ERA with two saves in 26 appearances at the break.

The next year, Kansas City’s Aaron Crow was an All-Star as a rookie with a 2.08 ERA and no saves in 36 appearances before the break. In 2018, Chavez’s current teammate, Joe Jiménez, made the All-Star team in his first full season in the majors with Detroit, with a 2.72 ERA and three saves in 46 appearances at the break.

Now, at a time when bullpens are increasingly important to championship teams, and some top relievers are used before the ninth inning if a manager thinks more important outs need to be made earlier, the candidacy of a middle reliever seems more viable. Especially one who’s excelled in as many big situations as Chavez.

“What he’s doing for us, at 40, I definitely think he deserves the nod,” said Riley, who has hit .356 with seven home runs in 17 games since emerging from a long slump. “(Chavez) just goes out there and he’s the ultimate pro, just whatever Snit’s asked from him, he goes out there and does it.”

Only one of the 14 base runners inherited by Chavez had scored — tied for the NL’s best percentage (7.1) — before Tuesday when he entered with runners on first and third and one out in the eighth inning and surrendered a sacrifice fly.

That means 14 of the 16 runners who’ve been on base when he entered games were still on base when an inning ended. The value of that can’t be overstated. Just ask other pitchers.

One of those runners was on second when Chavez entered with one out in the seventh inning Friday in relief of fellow 40-year-old Charlie Morton. Chavez retired the next two batters, and Morton got the win against Pittsburgh to become just the third active pitcher with wins against all 30 MLB teams.

“Knowing what’s on the line for him, you want to minimize it as best as you can,” said Chavez, who did just that, retiring the next two batters on a strikeout and groundout. “And I was able to get out of it without, you know, losing my leg again.”

He got two more outs in the next inning that night, making it the fourth appearance of more than one inning for Chavez in June, a month in which he posted a 0.87 ERA with two walks and 12 strikeouts in 10 1/3 innings.

“Just a pro’s pro,” Morton said after that game, when he wore a different T-shirt with Chavez’s name and likeness on the front.

Chavez’s .054 average with runners in scoring position has been against 45 batters, the lowest opponents’ average with at least that many batters faced in RISP situations since the St. Louis Cardinals’ Alex Reyes posted a .047 against 57 batters faced in 2001.

“I mean, I could make every (All-Star) argument for him,” Minter said. “He’s a fan favorite for not only this team but every team he’s been on. He has the numbers. And MLB has made exceptions in the past. Jesse’s 40 years old, but at the same time he’s pitching in the best part of his career, and there’s no one more deserving.”

Chavez laughed after he joked about not losing his leg this time. His self-deprecating humor is among the many facets of his personality that make him the embraceable veteran who transcends all ages and ethnicities, the player whose name need only be mentioned to teammates for them to immediately smile.

They love playing on the same team and sharing a clubhouse with the well-traveled Chavez, who has played for nine major-league teams but had his most success in his five years with the Braves spread over six different stints.

Among relievers, the inherited-runner stat is crucial, even if it doesn’t get as much attention as ERA or saves.

“It’s not only the pitcher, it’s character, it’s being a teammate,” Minter said of relievers like Chavez caring about inherited runners more than ERA. “Those runners don’t affect (Chavez) personally, his statistics. For him to go in and play for his teammates, play for each other — it’s about winning baseball games, and he puts personal stats aside and takes pride in picking up his teammates. And the fans don’t really notice that (inherited runners stranded) and they should.

“But yeah, I can make any case for Jesse to be an All-Star. He deserves to be in it, and people want to see him.”

(Photo: Matthew Grimes Jr. / Atlanta Braves / Getty Images)