In early June 1988,Chimelis was drafted as a shortstop by the Oakland Athletics in the 11th round of the major league draft and sent to their Southern Oregon A's rookie-league minor league team in Medford,Oregon for the remainder of the 1988 season.[2] Chimelis then was promoted to play for the Modesto Athletics Single-A minor league team in 1989 and 1990.
Chimelis then played for the minor league Shreveport Captains,a Double-A minor league team in the San Francisco Giants organization,in 1992,1993,and 1994,and also played for the Giants' Triple-A minor league team,the Phoenix Firebirds,in 1992 and 1993.
On June 4,1995,the Giants called up Chimelis to their major league roster to replace the injured infielder Matt Williams,who had broken a bone in his foot.[3] Although several other major league teams had called up former replacement players,the Giants hadn't done so yet,and San Francisco players grumbled about the idea of welcoming a strikebreaker on the team. As a result,Chimelis,who had been hitting .294 at Phoenix,was treated as an outcast by Giants players,who held a players-only meeting at which they excluded Chimelis.[4][5] "I never associated with a replacement player,and I wasn't about to now",Giants first baseman Mark Carreon told the San Francisco Chronicle. "A lot of us for eight months made sacrifices. I'm sure [Chimelis]'s a great guy,but we stood for something."[6]
After a threat of player revolt,the Giants sent Chimelis back down to the minor leagues just two days later,on June 6,without Chimelis ever having appeared in a major league game,making him a phantom ballplayer. "They told me they would get me a flight out the next morning",Chimelis told the Daily Press (Virginia) in August 1996. "But I said,'The hell with that. I'll go right now.' Why stay when you aren't happy and you aren't wanted? It's hard not to be angry,but there are two ways you can react to that anger. You can cry about it and dig yourself a hole,or you can build from it. All I did was try to support my family. Now I'm just trying to play baseball and do my job."[7] Chimelis was never called back up to the major leagues again and finished his season in Phoenix. He was released by the Giants in early September 1995.[8]
Chimelis played in the Mexican League in 2000 for the Tecolotes de los Dos Laredo. In 2001,Chimelis played in the Mexican League and for the Quebec Capitales in the independent Northern League. He played a stint in Puerto Rico during the winter of 2002,then returned to the Tecolotes later that year,but retired in 2003.[10][2]
In January 2006,the Houston Astros announced that Chimelis would become the hitting coach for the Tri-City ValleyCats,who play a short season in the New York–Penn League.[12][1] Chimelis continued in that role through the 2010 season. In 2011,Chimelis served as the hitting coach for the Astros' Class A Lexington Legends team. In 2012,Chimelis served as the hitting coach for the Astros' Class AA Corpus Christi Hooks team,and then served as the hitting coach for the Quad Cities River Bandits,the Astros' low-A affiliate in the Midwest League.[13]
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