Texas Rangers Reliever’s Longevity Explained by High School Coach

The Texas Rangers signed a 41-year-old reliever this offseason and his high school coach explains why he’s played so long.

Sep 8, 2024; Cumberland, Georgia, USA; Atlanta Braves pitcher Jesse Chavez (60) pitches the ball against the Toronto Blue Jays during the ninth inning at Truist Park. / Jordan Godfree-Imagn Images

Jesse Chavez and the Texas Rangers are well acquainted. When the Rangers signed him to a one-year deal this offseason, it marked his fourth tour with the franchise.

He had already decided that this would be final season in the Majors. He’ll turn 42 years old this season, and if he’s still playing on Aug. 21, when he celebrates his birthday, his age will match the round of the MLB draft in which he was selected.  

Texas did the honors, making him its 42nd round pick in 2002 out of Riverside City College in Riverside, Calif.

Along the way, he’s become the most-traded player in baseball history, as he’s been included in 13 different deals. He won a World Series with Atlanta in 2021. He’s pitched longer than most pitchers. He even has a 21-year-old daughter.

He never would have thought he would have pitched this long. But he has. And someone close to him did predict it.

Dennis Rogers is 73 years old now. But, more than 20 years ago, he was Chavez’s coach at Riverside. Even back when Chavez was in high school. Rogers told him that he could pitch until he was 40 years old, The Athletic reported.

Why?

“We talk about being mentally in tune,” Rogers said. “He was already there as an 18-19-20-21-year old. It just grew and grew. He had repairable mental skills. He could repair on the fly, whatever he saw.”

Rogers would know. Along with being a junior college coach and a minor league coach, he was a professor of kinesiology at Riverside for 26 years. In other words, he knows body mechanics.

He said that when Chavez was in his first professional season, he observed him throwing long toss and that it was the farthest he had seen someone throw the baseball with no stress.

At the time, Chavez’s response was succinct.

“I thought he was full of s—,” Chavez said.

Well, 17 seasons later, the right-hander remains a reliable set-up man. Texas has had luck throughout its history with aging relievers, most recently with Kirby Yates, who at 37 years old last season saved 33 games and was named the team’s pitcher of the year.

Entering this season, he is 51-65 with a 4.24 ERA and nine saves, even has he’s thrown 1,134 innings. Of his 653 games, 85 were starts and he finished off 180 games. He also has 1,036 strikeouts and 358 walks.  

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