Colorado Rockies right-hander Jhoulys Chacin is experiencing right shoulder inflammation and will undergo an MRI on Monday. He is expected to miss at least a week.
Chacin has not thrown a full side session and has been limited to long-tossing this spring.
Trainer Keith Dugger said the injury is not related to the pectoral nerve injury that caused Chacin to miss much of the 2012 season when he made 14 starts and pitched 69 innings. Dugger said Chacin’s current injury is inflammation of the right biceps tendon with the irritation near the rotator cuff.
The Rockies are counting heavily on Chacin, who has a goal of pitching 200 innings after falling short last season with a career-high 197 1/3. But for four-inning outings in two of his final three starts, Chacin would have crossed that 200-inning barrier.
Regardless, Chacin went 14-10 last year with a 3.47 ERA, the second-lowest ERA by a starter in franchise history behind only Ubaldo Jimenez’s 2.88 ERA in 2010. The 14 victories were a career-high for Chacin.
His success was largely due to a vastly improved sinker. The pitch helped Chacin record 30 double play grounders, the second-best total in the National League, trailing only the St. Louis Cardinals’ Adam Wainwright. Prior to last season, Chacin induced 34 double plays on ground balls in 411 1/3 career innings as he tried to miss bats and notch strikeouts.
“I always talked about pitching to contact,” Chacin said, “but it was hard earlier in my career, because when I got one or two strikes on a hitter, I wanted the K. But last year, I didn’t worry about it. I made up my mind that I would get quick outs.”