SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Jesse Chavez’s path to becoming the Giants’ new bullpen coach started with a Call of Duty session eight years ago.
In 2018, Chavez was gearing up to play the video game with his then-Rangers teammate Mike Minor. Minor asked Chavez if he could invite one of his buddies to join: Quentin Eberhardt, who was in his first year working under Tony Vitello as the director of sports performance at the University of Tennessee’s baseball program.
“I said, ‘Sure, let’s play, we need a fourth,’” Chavez said. “Sure enough, he jumps in, and from that moment every night, we played video games.”
Despite their nightly gaming sessions, Chavez and Eberhardt didn’t actually meet in person until 2022. That spring, Chavez was beginning his second stint with the Cubs, who had just hired Eberhardt as a strength coach.
“Hey, nice to meet you,” Chavez recalls telling Eberhardt. “Fun to see what your face looks like compared to the voice.”
Chavez ended up appearing in only three games with Chicago in '22, but he stayed in touch with Eberhardt, who ended up back at the University of Tennessee after one year with the Cubs and eventually followed Vitello to the Giants over the offseason. When Vitello was filling out the rest of his big league coaching staff, Eberhardt suggested bringing Chavez on board as his bullpen coach.
“The relationship just kept building and building and building,” Chavez said of his friendship with Eberhardt. “For him to build that trust in me and for him to throw my name out there says a lot about what transpired over that [period]. That’s kind of how it happened. That’s how my name got to Tony.”
Chavez, 42, was fresh off an 18-year run as a Major League reliever, and he always had an interest in transitioning into coaching after his playing career ended. He didn’t pitch after the Braves released him last July, so he felt like he had already had enough time away from the game when the Giants came calling.
“Since I stopped in July, I felt like that was my gap year,” Chavez said. “My girls got tired of me. For me, you never know what’s going to happen next year. I figured, regardless of what my resume says as a player, if I’m out for half a season, then I’m out this season, then next season, then I’m out of the game 2 1/2 years. I didn’t want to do that. So, I planned ahead for today. That’s how I did it as a player -- I always planned for the next one.”
Giants right-hander Adrian Houser was in Rangers camp with Chavez last spring and said he could sense the journeyman reliever’s “coaching motor” even then.
“It’s crazy that it happened that fast,” Houser said. “But it’s something that I think you can see that was in his trajectory. It’s pretty cool to see that he’s here. When I saw that he was going to be the bullpen coach here, I was pretty pumped because he’s a very knowledgeable guy. He’s been in our shoes. He’s done it [18] years. He’s a person that all of us pitchers can heavily lean on, no matter what it is. In the grind, in the middle of the season, he’s the guy that we can go lean on because he’s been there. He knows exactly what it’s like and how to navigate through a season. He’s going to be a huge, huge addition for us.”
Because he is so recently removed from playing, Chavez should bring a different perspective than fellow pitching coaches Frank Anderson, Justin Meccage and Christian Wonders, none of whom pitched in the Majors. Left-hander Erik Miller said he’s especially eager to learn more about how Chavez was able to maintain his longevity throughout his nearly 20 seasons in the league.
“I'm definitely looking forward to picking his brain,” Miller said. “To pitch as long as he has, you're doing something right. He clearly was able to evolve over time. Obviously, given my age, I wasn't watching him as much at the start of his career, but certainly the last couple of years, I've seen and clearly watched someone who's elite at their craft.
“He knew what he had to do, given what he had. Obviously, he's not blowing anybody by, but that dude did not ever miss a spot, and it still leads to success. It’s probably a lot more about taking care of his body. … That's probably the thing I'm most keen on.”
Worth noting
• Rafael Devers has been out of the lineup since Feb. 26 due to left hamstring tightness, but he’s been taking swings in the batting cage and hitting off a Trajekt machine, so he could return to action early next week.
• Jung Hoo Lee rolled his ankle while gearing up for Team Korea in the World Baseball Classic, but the issue is considered minor and isn’t expected to affect his availability for the tournament.