Bruce Chen is coming of the disabled list* to face the Cubs tonight. Chen has been with the Royals for a couple of years, they're his eighth team and approximately third life in baseball.
*left lat strain per numerous Google search results
Chen was a free agent from Panama and signed by the Braves way back in 1993. He's now 34-years old, and the hard-throwing left-handed prospect is a distant memory. He remains left-handed.
These days Chen throws in the 80s--topping out over 90--and likes to cut the ball and change arm angles.
He seems to (for the most part) throw a two-seam fastball and a curveball from a low position to lefties but just the sinker from down low to righties. The higher position includes a four-seam fastball, the curveball, a change-up and the cutter.
He'll occasionally mix the grip/angle pairs but he's seemingly settling on these. Oh, sometimes the curve or cutter may look like a slider, but it's been a pretty clear separation since April.
He is just of the DL so maybe he changed things up (again) while rehabbing.
Now for Chen 2011 in pictures.
For the flat view (side and top) I made the curveball bubble bigger for the low-angle pitches to lefties. For the catcher's views you'll have to cope with the rudimentary format and use your imagination a little.
Put it all together and you have a guy who gets a lot of fly balls, throws a medium number of strikes and doesn't miss many bats.
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