Jerry Blevins decided to stick with baseball for 2021 in-large part due to the Mets being the team that was calling. He wants to win a World Series ring in a New York Mets jersey and he is excited about what Steve Cohen has brought to the franchise.
Blevins signed a minor league contract to return to the Mets in December after not pitching in the big leagues during the shortened 2020 season. Blevins was originally acquired by the Mets organization in March of 2015 when he traded from the Nationals for outfielder Matt den Dekker.
The left-hander had five scoreless innings when he a comebacker broke his left arm in April. He was working his way back in August when he slipped on a curb (you don’t want to miss this part of the interview) and rebroke his arm. He ended up with just five scoreless innings during the Mets magical 2015 season.
Blevins was healthy again in 2017, he pitched to a 2.97 ERA and struck out 52 batters over 73 appearances in 42 innings. It was more of the same for Blevins in 2018, he had a 2.94 ERA and 69 strikeouts over 75 appearances and 49 innings.
The 2018 season was a different story for Blevins as the former 17th round pick saw his ERA rise to 4.85 and his K/9 dropped to 8.4 in 64 appearances. Blevins was a free agent after the season and signed with the A’s. His return to Oakland was short-lived, they sent him to the Braves for cash in April. The quirky lefty pitched to a 3.90 ERA and struck out 37 batters in 32 innings for Atlanta in 2019.
In 13 big league seasons, Blevins has a 3.54 ERA in 609 games and has struck out 508 batters in 495 innings. Two of his three best seasons in terms of WAR came with the Mets, with the other (1.4 WAR) coming in 2014 with the A’s.
Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports
MMO – What was behind your decision to first sign with the Mets during the offseason, and then deciding to report to the alternate site after finding out you weren’t going to be on the Opening Day roster?
Jerry Blevins – Bryn Alderson (Mets’ pro scouting director and son of Sandy) reached out to myself and my agent asking what my intentions were because I had played against them for the Braves in 2019 and pitched well and then in 2020 right before things were shutting down, they were looking at me because the Giants had made it known I wasn’t going to make the team. So, there were rumblings of me going back in 2020, but that didn’t work out. They reached out this offseason when I was on vacation with my wife and we were kind of like ‘I don’t know man’.
We started thinking about it, what it meant for our family (Jerry has a three-year-old and one-year-old), and I was thinking this is basically the only opportunity that would push me to get back into shape and test my body and put my family through what it takes to endure the baseball craziness.
So, I got back into shape and I felt good. I signed and knew it would be an uphill battle because there’s talent here, but that pushed me to get ready. I want to win a World Series and I want to do it with the Mets. I love New York, I love the fans, it really was the only thing that brought me back.
I feel like I can contribute at the big league level now, so that’s why I chose to keep going. I feel like I’m the same pitcher I have been for the last seven-to-eight years, my stuff is the same and my body feels great. Unfortunately, I didn’t make the team out of spring, but I’m going to keep it going. I think I had one of my best springs, I normally don’t do well in ST because I’m always working on stuff and this year I just focused on getting outs.
MMO – How long have you been growing your hair out and what was the inspiration behind that?
Blevins – To be honest, it started in 2019 before I got traded over to the Braves. I was in Las Vegas with the A’s and I got a really bad hair, it was a super short fade. I was like, ‘you know what, this is it, I’m done with this’ and I decided I was going to grow it out. That whole season it was an awkward length. I went to Zack and Dominque Wheeler’s wedding that offseason and they were like ‘what are you doing with your hair’? I was at the awkward stage and decided I was just going to power through it.
So, 2020 hit and COVID hit, and I just kind of kept powering through. I kind of like it now and I think I’m going to keep it for awhile.
MMO – Have guys like Jacob deGrom or Noah Syndergaard commented on the hair?
Blevins – I’ve actually gone to them for advice because it’s different, like putting your hat on and how you have to prepare. I was like ‘Gsellman, how do you keep your hat on’ and he gave me a few tips like getting it on while your hairs wet and deGrom said he had to go down a hat size just to keep it from pushing off. They both have thick hair like I do, so it immediately wants to just toss your hat off and especially in the Florida humidity.
MMO – How do you think the three-batter rule has affected your career and other specialists?
Blevins – Obviously, it’s a negative for me, especially as I get older. I can get lefties and righties out, I did that earlier in my career, but once I got to New York they told me it was my job to get lefties out. So, I fully embraced it and I think it’s a valuable piece to a club. I don’t like the rule in-general, because I don’t appreciate taking some strategy out of the manager’s hands. I think the LOOGY was on its way out anyway because of how teams are using their relievers.
It affected me mostly because with my time on the Mets, that was my job so people remember who you were last and so it also affected how I train. As long as you tell me what you want out of me and that’s my job, then I can do that. Or if I can’t, then so be it.
MMO – What are your thoughts on a Universal DH?
Blevins – As a fan, I love National League baseball, I love having the pitcher hit and not just because I like to see them hit. It’s more because I like the strategy of the game. I do think it’s a little antiquated now because pitchers don’t hit, we don’t practice it very often. It used to be –in high school or even college and the big leagues before — your pitchers were your best athletes so you practiced all of it. We don’t practice hitting the way a hitter should for someone that’s in a lineup. Now it’s more of an injury risk.
I remember Jacob deGrom hyperextending his elbow on a swing, luckily it didn’t hurt him but I remember thinking this is just silly. Imagine if the injury turned out to be more serious and we somehow missed out his dominance. Jake is a generational talent now, I just don’t think the risk vs reward is there.
And personally, I have my hit already, so bring it on!
MMO: Speaking of things that happened only once in your career, walk us through the time you started a game.
Blevins: It didn’t start out great, I will tell you that haha (Second pitcher in MLB history to allow back-to-back homers to begin first start). I came into the field that day and someone had an issue (I don’t remember who it was) and they asked me if I could start. I was like, ‘yeah whatever, I’m never going to get another chance so let’s embrace it’.
We were playing the Dodgers and they put in Kike Hernandez and Max Muncy to lead off the game, and both of those guys hit home runs off me. I recovered to retire the next six guys though including three strikeouts. I recovered well, but not the ideal way to make your one and only big league start.
MMO – You’re stranded on an island and you can only watch movies, what five are you watching?
Blevins – Give me a minute, I wish I could’ve prepared for this one. It’s got to be genre based, let’s go with Shawshank Redemption for number one. As a prison break movie, maybe it will give you some kind of hope that you can get off the island. For a comedy, I have to go with Tommy Boy, peak Chris Farley. Need something epic, can I do the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy? We will do the extended Peter Jackson cut and that will lock up like a week.
Let’s come back to this, I might want to add a few more.
MMO – Name the best prankster you’ve ever played with.
Blevins – Jesse Chavez, right-handed starter and reliever, hybrid type guy that I played with in Oakland for a while. He was the king of the little tricks like a cup of water on top of door so when you open it falls on you or the hot foot, where they put the tape down. He was the king of that stuff, because it kept it up and never got caught.
For the bigger pranks, I’m going to plead the fifth on those because the pranks got a little bit bigger and definitely inappropriate.
MMO – What are the struggles of being a dad during the season?
Blevins – Oh man, those are deep, there’s a few levels. For me personally, there’s a lot guilt about being away and missing time, not just for the kids. Fortunately for me, my second Asher, I was able to be there basically everyday of his life. For Ellis, we got there on a home stand so I got to see the first 10 days of his life and then we went on a 10-day roadtrip–that tore me up for a couple of reasons. One, I’m missing half of my first-born son’s life and the other part is, I’m leaving my wife there to take care of herself you know. She just gave birth to her child by performing this miracle and she’s in a vulnerable spot because that kid is very needy. So, there’s a lot guilt about leaving you know.
You lean on your teammates and coaches during that time. I remember some of the older coaches trying to help me through by explaining this era has it better because of FaceTime, they had to go down to a phone bank at the hotel room. That kind of gave me some perspective that I can still be a part of their life, but it’s still difficult to leave for a multitude of reasons. Being away is tough and my wife and I waited for a long time to start our family because I wanted to be around. I’ve gotten to a point now with Ellis –he will be three in May — where he’s close to making memories so if I can give him one memory at the baseball field of dad playing that would be pretty cool.
Ellis loves baseball, he makes me sing “Take Me Out To the Ballgame” to him every night.
MMO – What are your thoughts on wearing the black jerseys?
Blevins – Clearly the fans want it, I saw a flood of ‘bring them back’ posts on social media. The fans hold a good piece of nostalgia about it. I don’t think they’re aesthetically pleasing, personally, and I’ve already warn black alternates in Oakland. I guess I just have reservations about a throwback jersey that’s going back to an era in which I played in. You can’t throw it back to when I was also here, haha. I think Howie Rose and myself are the two detractors to the black jerseys.
MMO – Walk me through slipping on a curb.
Blevins – I can certainly walk you through that, haha, it’s a simple thing. Have you ever worn sandals post-shower and it’s really easy for heal to slide out? I’m walking out to my car on the phone with my wife and my left foot goes to the edge as I’m stepping and my heal slips out and my foot kind of just slips off the curb. I didn’t fall or tumble or do the Henry Rowengartner, I just kind of flipped and caught myself with my hand. So, that’s how it rebroke.
You know, I’m going to tell you this story and I’ve only talked about this a couple of times and I should’ve just said this is how I broke my arm. A week before, Erik Goeddel and I are at like Texas Roadhouse or Longhorn or whatever is out here in Port St. Lucie, and I actually gave a guy the Heimlich maneuver and saved his life.
Looking in retrospect, I should’ve said that I rebroke my arm given this guy the Heimlich. The headlines would’ve been way different, everyone thought I was lying about slipping anyway. Now every time I send a tweet, there’s always at least one person that says ‘look out for a curb or don’t step on a curb’ in the replies. I should’ve embellished completely and said it was when I saved this guys life a week prior –which could be the story –but in hindsight I definitely should’ve done that.
MMO – Who is the toughest out for you and why is it Freddie Freeman?
Blevins – Haha, I guess you’ve looked at the numbers. So, there’s two and the first one is Ichiro. When I first came up, Ichiro was with Seattle and he can hit anything and he’s Ichiro, I mean he’s a Hall of Famer. Even when I succeed, I would get him to ground the ball to second base and he would just beat it out. I would look at him and he’s just smiling at me. It was always a battle with Ichiro. I remember distinctly when he was with Miami, that Juan Lagares made a great catch to save me from giving up another hit to Ichiro.
Freddie Freeman is a different type of animal, he can hit any pitch. There’s two types of hitters, there’s guys that try to hit home runs on every swing and don’t make adjustments and then there’s contact guys that put the ball in play and make the pitcher work. The latter are the ones that give me trouble.
Then there’s Freddie Freeman who does both, so it’s a chess match and even when you make a mistake he’s going to hit it really hard. And sometimes when you succeed in making your pitch, he hit’s it hard anyway. He’s also really tough to read his swing mid-AB, because he has an unorthodox swing. Having played with him in 2019, I think I’ve gathered enough evidence to have a strategy going forward.
MMO – What was it like being on that 2015 team and just missing?
Blevins – It’s pretty bitter sweet for me personally because it was hard for me to be on the sidelines watching my friends and my teammates compete at that level. I’m cheering my butt off, but at the same time, I’m pretty sad because I didn’t get to pitch in the World Series and help my team win it. I remember distinctly seeing moments in the games where I could be in there helping my team win a World Series.
So, it was an amazing run and an incredible atmosphere, and a wonderful thing for the Mets and the fans, and all my friends and family were excited, but at the same time it leaves kind of a sour taste in my mouth that I wasn’t able to help.
That has probably contributed to me wanting to come back and win one, I want to be a part of it and I want to be around it. Because of how amazing this fan base was for a team that came up short and the support that they showed, I can’t imagine how it would be if we made it all the way through and got to hoist the trophy at the end. I want to feel it, I want to win, I want to be the last team standing, and I want to do it wearing a Mets uniform.
MMO – How do you think the current Mets team matches up to that 2015 team?
Blevins – I actually think this team has more talent. One thing the 2015 team had was almost a little bit of early maturing. In 2014 as a National, you saw some potential and thought they might be two years away from really being a contender. So, when I got to to the Mets, I was like the supporting cast is really good, but it took a combination of many things for that to go right. I think that’s why it felt so good for the fans and the team, you had a breakout from deGrom and you had Syndergaard step up and then a huge trade for Yoenis Cespedes. Without a trade for Cespedes, none of this is happening because he carried us to the playoffs.
Then you have Daniel Murphy, who then stepped up and carried us to the World Series. So you had these two individual performances wrapped around important guys like Michael Conforto, Syndergaard, Matt Harvey, Jeurys Familia being great at the back-end, and the addition for Addison Reed. You just had a great team chemistry and a lot of things work in the right context to bring us forward. The kind of catalyst for us was the chip on our shoulder as the underdog and that helped pushed us forward.
With this Mets team, they have those expectations and rightfully so, we have a ton of talent but you have to perform. I think Luis Rojas has the guys in the right mindset, along with Jeremy Hefner and Ricky Bones having the pitching staff in a good position to succeed. We have the talent in the places that you need it, the versatility, and the depth. This is a really really good team in a really good division, it’s going to be a battle but I think the expectations are there for a reason. I’m looking forward to this season.
MMO – Big question, Parks and Rec or The Office?
Blevins – Oh geez, I have to choose one? They’re both great. I’m going Parks and Rec there, it gives a me a little bit more of a variety. Gosh, man that’s hard, yeah I’m going to go with Parks and Rec. That cast of characters is just incredible.
MMO – What’s the best baseball movie?
Blevins – It’s got to be The Sandlot. It captures the innocence of baseball, the history of the game along with some of the feelings of when you’re a kid and what it means to you. Then it also shows you that big league dream is possible with Bennie the Jet and then has a heist movie mixed in as well.
MMO – Was there a moment when you were younger when you knew or thought you could play in the big leagues?
Blevins – I don’t think it was until I was in pro ball. When I was a kid, it was a dream like being an astronaut –something that you think about and dream about as an innocent kid and you don’t understand the odds of getting there. That you have to be lucky, talented, and have so many things go your way to actually make it. I grew up in small town where I was really good at baseball but graduated with only 39 people in High School and wasn’t really recruited. I went to Dayton and walked on to the team from seeing the poster in the dorms. And I didn’t really pitch until my junior year.
Brian Williams was the scout that signed me and I was literally his first player, so nothing ever pointed to I’m going to be a big leaguer, not to mention playing for 10 years. There was never that one moment, I always just kind of believed in my stuff and if I worked hard enough. People say a lot of it is luck, and it is, but the preparation is putting yourself in position to win that luck to get that opportunity and take advantage. I always wanted to make sure that if an opportunity showed up, that I was going to be ready, so I showed discipline at a young age when not a lot of people were doing it.
I just ended up in places that worked out for me and I’m very grateful to baseball and everything that has come my way. I’m very appreciative, but also willing to allow myself to say I worked really hard at it. I will always be grateful to baseball, but also be proud of the effort I put in.
MMO – Have you thought about whether you would like to stay in baseball once you decide to retire?
Blevins – I have given it a little bit of thought and that’s part of what drew me to the Mets. I don’t know in what capacity or if they even want me to be a part of the organization after I’m done playing, but I do LOVE THE METS. I feel like I gave my best years here, as well as it came at a time when we had a great team and the fans embraced us. I just have nothing but fondness in my heart for the Mets. If the opportunity presents itself, I would love to be a part of the Mets in some capacity. If not, I will stay in the game somehow, whether it’s running clinics or I enjoy my time with SNY.
Right now, I’m just so focused on doing what I need to do to continue as a pitcher. For me, I can’t really give myself to anything but baseball, fatherhood, and being a good husband.
MMO – What is it like to have an owner like Steve Cohen that’s so active on social media as a full blown Mets fan?
Blevins – It’s really all you could ask for. As a player to have an owner that loves the team more than you could, because you know there’s a business side of it for us. We have to provide for our families and we have a small window to earn. We dedicated our lives to a craft, so from the business standpoint, there is a livelihood to be made. But, when you’re in an organization where the owner wants to win, has the ability to fund winning, and the willingness to push the organization in a direction that will move that way. It’s great as a player, and as a fan, you can’t ask for more either.
The fact that he’s made himself available on twitter and kind of opened himself up, that’s not easy to do. And it’s probably not advisable to do, haha. If we don’t perform up to expectations, then he’s going to hear about it. If we have a bad game, he’s going to hear about it. If he wants to keep having that interaction with fans then I give him nothing but props for it.
For me personally, having that –Stevie has dominated twitter, he’s been great– is an outlet for me to connect to the fans. But it’s easy for a guy like me, I can’t imagine what it’s like for Jacob deGrom to have the amount of people recognize him. He can’t take the 7-train because he would be mobbed, he’s the greatest baseball player on earth right now. I can do that, I’m basically an anonymous human being, so its easy for me to interact with fans. I can sign as many autographs as I can, most people don’t even know who I am, they just know they’re collecting an autograph from a guy on the field.
But, when Jacob shows up, they swarm. So, I can imagine that Stevie Cohen has that level of accountability in a sense where ever he goes he’s going to have this magnetism of attraction towards him. I imagine he’s prepared for it, I’m sure he can afford some security and some wherewithal to what it’s going to take. I appreciate that he’s willing to put himself out there because you don’t see it, no other owner besides maybe Mark Cuban is like that. That’s it, two amazing sports owners.
As a player and a fan of the game, I wish there were more Stevie Cohen’s out there. It’s better for the sport and it’s better for the fans. I’m excited to be a part of the organization that has Stevie Cohen at the helm.
MMO – Circling back, do you want to add any movies to your list?
Blevins – I definitely do, I feel like I have to spread my fingers a little bit here. For action, I’m going to add Predator..oh no, I don’t want to be stuck on an island thinking about the Predator. Let’s go with classic and amazing shootouts in Heat. Let’s do the A Nightmare on Elm Street series, I love a good scary movie and Freddy Kreuger might be the greatest villain of all time. If you need a romantic comedy, give me Notting Hill all day long, I’m a sucker for the Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant banter back and forth.
Let’s add The King of Kong as my documentary, it’s like a sports movie wrapped in like nerdy video games, which is all in my wheelhouse. And I saw it randomly, I bought the five for $25 DVDs at Blockbuster in Clinton, Iowa and watched it one of those portable DVD players on a bus, and just loved it.
(Blevins and I then got off track for a bit, with him talking about the expansive DVD collection he built from buying random movies on the road in the minor leagues and how he used to tape movies off Cinemax.)
Alright, you have any final questions? I’m sure my wife’s like, ‘what are you doing?’ Alright man, thanks for chatting.
MMO – Thanks for doing this and good luck this year.
You can follow Blevins on Twitter: @jerryblevins
