Chafin is prepared for the 100-pitch level at the MAC Tournament, which will allow the Major League Baseball scouts to get an eye on the 6-2, 210-pound pitcher who underwent Tommy John surgery in 2009.
View full sizeKent State pitcher Andrew Chafin has put up strong numbers after missing 18 months following Tommy John surgery. The sophomore has once again caught the attention of major-league scouts.KENT, Ohio — It wasn't quite the pressure of making a game-winning free throw for the first time after suffering a broken arm. Or, maybe throwing the game-winning touchdown the first pass after suffering a broken wrist.
But for Kent State sophomore Andrew Chafin, his first competitive pitch last fall after recovering from 2009 Tommy John surgery on his left elbow came close.
"We played an exhibition game against a team from Canada in late September," seventh-year KSU coach Scott Stricklin began. "Andrew had not faced any live hitters since 2009, about 16 months. We had 30 scouts there that day, every [major-league] team was represented. Everybody remembered how good he was as a freshman.
"The first pitch he threw, in my mind, I thought it was going to go over the backstop -- adrenaline, nerves, scouts in the stands, all the things around it. I was nervous for him. I didn't know how he would perform. But the first eight pitches he threw were strikes, all of them were fastballs and none of them were below 94 mph.
"Then a guy hit a soft one down third base on the ninth pitch, or he would have struck out the side on nine pitches in his first performance in 16 months. That's when we realized, he's going to be back, and most likely is going to be stronger."
Indeed. The surgery to repair Chafin's elbow led to ongoing rehabilitation that has increased the power and the strength in his entire arm.
"Nobody was more anxious than me to get out there," Chafin said. "All I know, I was coming out throwing harder than I have ever thrown in my life. I have definitely gotten a lot stronger. I topped out at 94 before the surgery. I was 95 my first game back in September."
The Flashes rolled into the Mid-American Conference Tournament this weekend as the top seed. Kent State beat Eastern Michigan, 5-4, on Thursday and play the winner of an earlier loser's bracket game today at 4 p.m.
Chafin, meanwhile, has delivered as predicted. He currently stands at 6-1 on the season with an earned-run average of 2.14, complete with 91 strikeouts and just 19 walks in 71 1/3 innings pitched.
That includes a March 25 game against Toledo, when Chafin pitched all nine innings and threw a season-high 113 pitches. He struck out 15 and walked none to earn a 1-0 victory.
He followed that up with back-to-back 13-strikeout games in the middle of April.
It has seemed like forever since the fall, when Chafin was limited to only 30 pitches per outing.
Chafin is prepared for the 100-pitch level at the MAC Tournament, which will allow the Major League Baseball scouts to get an eye on the 6-2, 210-pound pitcher once again.
"He's going to be drafted very high," Stricklin predicted. "It's very rare to find a left-handed pitcher with the kind of feel, command and velocity that he has, but also competes like that.
"He's been pitching in the worst conditions this spring, unlike any that I have ever seen -- cold, wet, windy, -- and he has just excelled. I think he is going to make the jump to the big leagues very quickly, quicker than any player we have ever had.
"He's the best pitcher I've ever had. The best."
To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: ealexander@plaind.com, 216-999-4253
Source: http://www.cleveland.com/sports/college/index.ssf/2011/05/kent_states_andrew_chafin_is_h.html
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