Mark Duncan/Associated Press

The ageless Jamie Moyer has started workouts at the Philadelphia Phillies’ complex in Clearwater, Fla., hoping to come back from reconstructive surgery on his ancient left elbow. He continues to inspire a younger version with Kansas City.

“The guy’s amazing — he’s 48 and he still wants to pitch,” Bruce Chen said by phone last week. “That would be great to do that. If I can stay healthy, I could see myself pitching for a long time, because I don’t rely on my velocity either. I rely on knowing how to pitch.”

The left-handed Chen, 34, has learned plenty over 13 major league seasons with 10 teams. When he was a rookie, in 1999, Baseball America ranked him the No. 4 prospect in the game. But he was traded in each of the next three seasons: from the Braves to the Phillies in 2000, to the Mets in 2001, and to the Expos in 2002. Since then, he has bounced to the Reds, the Astros, the Red Sox, the Orioles, the Rangers and, finally, to the Royals.

“A lot of people think going through 10 different teams is a bad thing,” Chen said. “But I see it as a good thing, because I have learned from all the things that have happened to me.”

Kansas City has spent most of the season in last place in the American League Central, yet Chen is 10-6. He had won five starts in a row until losing to Cleveland on Friday. He has a 4.11 earned run average, better than his career mark of 4.58.

The numbers are solid, not remarkable; with different run support, his record could be much less impressive. But Chen is a testament to survival, perhaps the best active example of a crafty left-hander, a classic baseball character.

Chen missed the 2008 season after Tommy John elbow surgery, and his fastball averages 86 miles per hour. This year, he throws it less than ever, according to FanGraphs, flipping curveballs, changeups and sliders more than 56 percent of the time. He varies arm angles continually, a lesson imparted from the pitching coach Bob McClure, another lefty who was forced to improvise late in his career.

“God gives some guys the ability to throw 100 miles an hour,” Chen said. “He didn’t give me that. But he gave me something else — I can throw different pitches from different arm angles.”

The Royals, who signed Chen to minor league deals in 2009 and 2010, got him this season for one year and $2 million. He has never pitched in the postseason but said he would like to return to Kansas City next year, to help build a winner. Wherever he goes, he will enjoy a career he wants to keep as long as possible.

“I love the field, the cities, staying in different hotels,” Chen said. “I love going to the ballpark and hanging out with my teammates. I love competing and facing the best hitters in the world. I love everything about baseball.”

Mystery Man

Last May, The New York Times ran an article about the five players picked before Derek Jeter in the 1992 draft, and what they were doing at the time.

Phil Nevin (picked first by Houston) and Chad Mottola (fifth by Cincinnati) were still in uniform, Nevin as a manager and Mottola as a coach in the minor leagues. Paul Shuey (second by Cleveland) was a professional bass fisherman, and Jeffrey Hammonds (fourth by Baltimore) was raising his children in Florida, considering a career in digital media.

Then there was B. J. Wallace, the mystery man, picked third by Montreal. He never pitched above Class AA and was out of baseball by 1996. His coach at Mississippi State, Ron Polk, had been out of touch with him for years. Phone calls to numbers believed to belong to Wallace and his family went unreturned.

Last week, Wallace, 40, surfaced in a disturbing way. After a three-month investigation by the police in Loxley, Ala., Wallace and his wife, Amber Sheree McKenzie, were charged Wednesday with first-degree manufacturing of a controlled substance, possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia. They were said to be cooking methamphetamine in a lab inside the home they shared with their three young children.

“B. J.’s had a tough life,” Polk said. “He had to work hard to become the pitcher that he did, and when he got released, it was a blow to him. I just don’t think enough people reached out to him. But people make their own breaks, so I can’t feel too sorry for him.”

On the day of Wallace’s arrest, Jeter passed Craig Biggio with his 3,061st career hit, moving into the top 20 on the career list. The Expos, who saved $250,000 by picking Wallace instead of Jeter, moved to Washington in 2005.