Jerry Blevins

Jerry Richard Blevins (born September 6, 1983), nicknamed Gordo (Spanish for "fat"), is an American former professional baseball pitcher.

He became a fan of the Oakland Athletics during the 1990 World Series, and his favorite baseball players included Jose Canseco and Rickey Henderson, though he idolized Ken Griffey Jr..

Before graduating in 2001 with fewer than 50 other students, Blevins was only recruited to play college baseball by a local Division III school.

Blevins chose instead to attend the University of Dayton on an academic scholarship.

As a freshman, he attended an open tryout for the Dayton Flyers baseball team and earned a spot on the roster.

He was teammates at Dayton with future Washington Nationals teammate Craig Stammen.

Blevins struck out 70 batters in 73.2 innings as a junior at Dayton.

Blevins was drafted by the Chicago Cubs in the 17th round of the 2004 Major League Baseball draft, and made his major league debut in 2007.

He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Oakland Athletics, Washington Nationals, New York Mets and Atlanta Braves.

He currently serves as a studio analyst for the New York Mets' pregame and postgame shows on SNY, where he sometimes does color commentary for the network.

Blevins was born in Tennessee, but moved to Ohio at four years old after his parents divorced.

Although his biological father was not present in his life, he came to regard his stepfather, who came into his life when he was a freshman in high school, as a father.

Blevins played baseball, basketball, and football and was in the marching band at Arcadia High School in Arcadia, Ohio.

Blevins was drafted by the Chicago Cubs in the 17th round (516th overall) of the 2004 Major League Baseball draft.

He signed with the club on June 23 of that year, and began his pro career with the Single-A Boise Hawks, where he pitched 23 games, and was 6–1 with 5 saves and a 1.62 ERA, and 42 strikeouts in 33.1 innings.

He was named a 2004 Northwest League mid-season All Star.

In 2005, he pitched for the Single-A Peoria Chiefs and was 3–7 with 14 saves and a 5.54 ERA and 96 strikeouts in 76.1 innings, but returned to Boise for the 2006 season.

In 2006, he also pitched for the Single-A Daytona Cubs and the Double-A West Tenn Diamond Jaxx.

Blevins began the 2007 season with the Daytona Cubs.

He pitched in 15 games there and had a 1–0 record with 6 saves and a 0.38 ERA before being promoted to the Double-A Tennessee Smokies on May 15.

He pitched in 23 games for the Smokies, in which he had a 2–2 record with 3 saves and a 1.53 ERA, and 37 strikeouts in 29.1 innings.

Blevins pitched a total of 38 games in the Cubs organization and had a 3–2 record with a 1.02 ERA.

Blevins was traded to the Oakland Athletics, along with catcher Rob Bowen, for catcher Jason Kendall on July 16, 2007.

The Athletics, upon receiving Blevins, optioned him to Double-A Midland.

He went 1–3 there with a 3.32 ERA in 17 games.

He was promoted to the Sacramento River Cats, the Athletics Triple-A affiliate, on August 31, 2007.

Before the River Cats season ended, he pitched in one game in which he did not give up a run and got the win in 2 scoreless innings pitched.

Blevins helped the River Cats win the Pacific Coast League championship.

After the win, Blevins was promoted to the Athletics major league club on September 15, 2007.

Blevins pitched for four different minor league teams in 2007, and had a combined 5–5 record with a 1.63 ERA in 56 games.

He also struck out 11.87 batters per nine innings and had a total of 102 strikeouts in 77 innings.

On September 16, 2007, Blevins made his major league debut, coming into the game in the ninth inning against the Texas Rangers.

He pitched a perfect ninth inning and struck out David Murphy.

He was named a 2008 Pacific Coast League mid-season All Star.

Blevins was designated for assignment on May 23, 2011.

He was later re-added back to the 40-man roster, only to be designated for assignment again on July 19.

He was re-added to the 40-man roster a day later.

Blevins earned one save during the 2012 season, also his second save in his career, in a clutch relief appearance when A's closer Grant Balfour allowed two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning making the score 6–5 against the Los Angeles Angels.

Blevins came in with the tying run at third and winning run at first, but he struck out Kendrys Morales and grounded Howard Kendrick into a double play to earn the save.

Blevins signed a one-year, $1.1 million deal with the Athletics to avoid arbitration before the 2013 season.