Chatwood confident he can be key contributor for Cubs as No. 5 starter
Before the coronavirus pandemic shut down baseball March 12, the Cubs' starting rotation was falling into place.
New manager David Ross never got around to officially announcing the order, but it was looking like Yu Darvish in the No. 1 slot, followed by Kyle Hendricks, Jon Lester and Jose Quintana.
The foursome had starting jobs locked down before spring training opened, but the No. 5 spot was up for grabs.
With growing optimism baseball will be back training in June and playing games in July, the race for the final starting job is going to resume.
Tyler Chatwood had a comfortable lead when the Cubs departed Arizona, and the veteran right-hander is expected to ultimately beat out a pack of competitors headed by Alec Mills and touted prospect Adbert Alzolay.
"He's put himself in a good spot to be in that role," Cubs pitching coach Tommy Hottovy said of Chatwood.
When he left the Rockies after the 2017 season and signed a three-year, $38 million free-agent contract with the Cubs, Chatwood was viewed as a starting pitcher.
He was in the rotation in 2018, but the 30-year-old pitcher eventually lost his job while going 4-6 with a 5.30 ERA. Chatwood also led the major leagues with 95 walks despite throwing just 103⅔ innings.
It was a disastrous debut with the Cubs, but not a complete loss.
"I think that bad year really helped me," Chatwood said. "It could go one of two ways. You could sulk on it and feel bad for yourself or you go back to basics and rebuild some stuff, fine-tune it. Last year was kind of the base of that. And this offseason I was able to build on that.
"I feel like this is the best spot I've ever been in, mechanics, throwing and everything."
Chatwood went 5-3 with a 3.76 ERA last season in 38 appearances, including 5 spot starts.
While cutting the walk total to 37 in 76⅔ innings, Chatwood regained his confidence after the all-star break and was 1-2 with a 2.84 ERA and 38 strikeouts in 31⅔ innings.
"I think there's still a lot of untapped potential," Chatwood said. "Right now, I feel like this is the best I've ever been. I'm able to set up pitches."
Before play was paused, Chatwood made 4 Cactus League starts for the Cubs and was 1-0 with a 1.86 ERA. Most encouraging, he had 11 strikeouts and only 2 walks in 9⅔ innings.
"When I signed here three years ago, (starting) was the whole point," said Chatwood, who is free-agent eligible at the end of the season. "That's what I did my whole career. Last year was tough, but the way I pitched at the end of the year I feel like set me up for a good year this year."