Milwaukee Brewers

Who is new Brewers pitcher Jhoulys Chacin?

Published Dec. 22, 2017 12:03 p.m. ET

The Milwaukee Brewers signed free-agent right-handed pitcher Jhoulys Chacin on Thursday, bolstering a pitching staff that finished 2017 ranked ninth in MLB with a 4.00 team ERA.

But who is this Chacin guy?

-- We’ll start with the name pronunciation. It’s pronounced Joe-lease Chas-seen.

-- You can find him on social media, @jhoulys45 on both Instagram and Twitter.

-- Chacin grew up in Venezuela, and he represented his home country in the 2017 World Baseball Classic. He made two appearances (one start) and allowed six runs in eight innings while fanning five hitters. Venezuela made it past the first round but went 0-3 in the next round robin in Pool F.

https://twitter.com/Jhoulys45/status/839912960642310145

-- He made his MLB debut in 2009 with the Colorado Rockies, whiffing two hitters in one inning of relief work.

-- Chacin spent his first six seasons with the Rockies (2009-14), and has pitched for the Diamondbacks (2015), Braves (2016), Angels (2016) and Padres (2017) since.

-- He told our friends at FOX Sports San Diego that he loves video games, especially Call of Duty, FIFA and MLB The Show.

-- Chacin had a strange game last season with the Padres, a 6-2 loss to the Cardinals on Aug. 23. Chacin led the Padres with two hits at the plate, but he also beaned four batters, which flirted with MLB’s single-game record. (No player has plunked more than four hitters in one game since 1903.)

-- While Yovani Gallardo, who was also signed Thursday, is also known as a good-hitting pitcher, isn't too shabby, either. He has a career .193 batting average and since 2014 is hitting .241. It was in 2013, though, in which his best moment at the plate occurred. In Colorado's 9-4 win over Arizona, Chacin hit his first -- and to date only -- major-league home run. It came in the third inning at Coors Field off Randall Delgado, the two-run shot tying the game at 2. "It was a mistake. I never pitched here before but I heard from everybody to be careful with the curveball," Delgado said afterwards. "I made a mistake and I paid for it. I never thought it was going to be the pitcher." Luckily for Chacin, the ball bounced back onto the field, allowing him to proudly display it in his locker after the game.

-- According to Statcast, Chacin’s slider provoked 139 swing-and-misses from opposing hitters, which ranked 11th in the big leagues and ahead of pitchers like Chris Sale and Justin Verlander.