Astros Rumors: Ranking the Remaining Potential Additions to the Bullpen

1) Andrew Chafin

Andrew Chafin is another of the long rumored Astros bullpen targets that makes too much sense for Houston not to pounce.

Chafin finished 2022 with a 2.83 ERA in 57.1 innings on the back of an elite fastball/slider repertoire. He actually posted reverse splits in 2022, holding righties to a well below average .586 OPS and lefties to a .665 OPS.

Equally eye-opening are his Statcast metrics. Chafin's baseball savant page is littered with red, finishing the year in the 89th percentile in chase rate, 87th percentile in whiff rate, 86th percentile in xBA and xSLG, 84th percentile in xERA/xwOBA and 81st percentile in hard hit rate. Look back through his nine year big league career and you'll find more red on his baseball savant page than you will on Santa's sleigh.

Over the last two seasons, Chafin has thrown a sinker over 40% of the time. He's not had tremendous success with the pitch. Last year opponents hit .319 and slugged .440 on the pitch.

For comparison's sake, opponents hit .085 with a .127 slugging percentage on his slider. It's easy to see a situation where Chafin comes to Houston and they have him go heavy on the slider with his four-seamer as a secondary pitch to terrorize opposing hitters.

On paper, the Astros have one of the best rosters in baseball. They really don't posses a weakness. By adding Chafin, they just double down on their greatest strength and make an already dominant bullpen even more unhittable.