Jerry Blevins: Former Mets Reliever (2015-2018) & SNY Analyst (2021-2022)

Jerry Richard Blevins was born September 6th, 1983, in Johnson City Tennessee. The tall six-foot six, left-handed reliever was nicknamed "Gordo". 

When his parents divorced, his mother moved him to Ohio. He became a star baseball, basketball & football player in high school as well as played in the marching band. Growing up he was a fan of the Oakland A's in the late 1980's. He regarded his stepfather as his father, since his biological father was not in his life.

Blevins attended the University of Dayton, pitching for their baseball team going 7-4 in 21 games for two seasons. Blevins was signed by the Chicago Cubs in 2004 in the 17th round.

After spending four seasons in the Cubs system, he was traded along with catcher Rob Bowen to the Oakland Athletics for Jason Kendall in 2007. 

MLB Career: He made the 2007 A's bullpen, as a September call up that year, debuting on September 16th against the Texas Rangers pitching a perfect 9th inning. 

The following year he was designated for assignment in May but then got resigned. Overall, Blevins would spend seven seasons with the Oakland A's (2007-2013) as a middle to late inning reliever.

In 2012 when he was 5-1 with 14 holds, a 2.48 ERA in 63 appearances, finishing up 17 games. He was primarily the setup man for Grant Balfour & Ryan Cook.

In 2013 he was 5-0 with a 3.15 ERA in 67 appearances, finishing up 14 games. That year his first win came in a ten inning win on April 28th against the Orioles. The next day he earned his second win, pitching the 18th & 19th innings of a win over the L.A. Angels. 

In those two years, which were his best, he was 10-1 with 18 holds, 106 strike outs & just 43 walks in 125 innings.

2012 Post Season-NLDS: In the 2012 ALDS against the Detroit Tigers, he made three relief appearances, with no decisions finishing up the Game #1 loss. In Game #4 he pitched a scoreless 6th & the inning in the A's 4-3 victory.

At the end of Spring Training 2014 he was traded to the Washington Nationals for former Met, Matt den Dekker. 

That year he helped the NL Eastern Champion Nationals, pitching in 64 appearances going 2-3 with nine holds & a 4.87 ERA. He struck out 66 batters in 57 innings.

2014 Post Season-NLDS: Blevins made three NLDS appearances against the San Francisco Giants, striking out two & allowing no runs in 3.1 innings.

In March of 2015 he was traded to the New York Mets for Matt den Dekker.

Mets Career: Blevins debuted for the Mets on Opening Day, getting former Nat teammate Bryce Harper to line out in the 9th inning. Buddy Carlysle came out for the last two outs as the Mets went on to a 3-1 victory in D.C. 

Blevins quickly became Terry Collins left-handed late inning reliever. From April 12th to April 19th, he notched himself five holds in seven games while not allowing an earned run. Left hand batters were 0-14 against him out of the Mets bullpen.

On April 16th, he earned his only win, beating the Miami Marlins. He had given up a fielder's choice that allowed an inherited run to score, but benefited from RBIs by Lucas Duda & Michael Cuddyer.

Injury: On April 19th, in a game against the Marlins, Blevins came in relief of Matt Harvey. He was hit by a comebacker from Dee Strange Gordon & suffered a fracture of his left arm & had to got on the DL. 

He later slipped on a curb in Florida refracturing his arm again & then needed surgery. He was out for the rest of the season as the Mets went on to win the pennant & play in the World Series.

Quotes: Jerry Blevins- “I was on the phone with my now-wife and slipped and caught myself. It wasn’t anything crazy. It just happened.  I caught myself, and I just felt a little bit of pain. I went back into the training room, and it felt sore. And we iced it, and it didn’t go away. So, we went and checked it out -- X-ray style. It came back and there was a little crack. So, we decided to go with the surgery.”

In December 2015 the Mets resigned him to a one year $4 million deal. Blevins returned to Mets Spring Training with high hopes in 2016.

Quotes: Jerry Blevins- "There’s always curiosity. Something is new. I’ve got metal latched to bone in my arm. So, there was definitely a bit of apprehension. But there’s only one way to find out how it’s going to be. And that’s to start throwing. Knock on wood, it’s been great so far. I haven’t had any issues. It feels really good now.”

2016 Mets Wild Card Season: Blevins became a valuable asset to the Mets 2016 bullpen, seeing
action mostly in the late innings as the left-handed specialist. 

On April 13th, he earned his first win a 2-1 Mets victory over the Miami Marlins. The rest of the month he recorded four holds to his credit. By late June his ERA was a personal season low at 1.45, that month he earned his second win another 2-1 Mets win, this time at Milwaukee.

On July 4th, Yoenis Cespedes broke a 6-6 tie against the Miami Marlins in what turned out to be the winning runs. Blevins got the win & went to 3-0. 

He suffered two losses & a blown save as he closed out August.

In September, he recorded his first two saves of the year, one coming on September 13th in an extra inning (10 inning) 4-3 win over the Nationals in Washington D.C. That day the Mets were a half game behind the Giants in the Wild Card lead & a full game ahead of St. Louis.

Later that week on the September 18th, he recorded his second save in a 3-2 win at home over the Minnesota Twins. Now the Mets had taken the wild card lead & were ahead of the Giants by a full game. Blevins added two more holds to earn 16 holds on the season. 

Overall, he was 4-2 with two saves, posting a 2.79 ERA, striking out 52 in 42 innings pitched while walking 15. He was third on the staff with 73 appearances.

2017: In what became the disaster season of 2017, Blevins was probably the best pitcher to come out of the Mets Bullpen. It began in the third game of the Mets season where he earned his first hold. 

On April 10th he earned his first victory, pitching 2/3 of an inning in a 4-3 win at Philadelphia. A week later he would have trouble with the Phillies in New York blowing two save in a row, one ending in a Mets loss. 

On May 5th he pitched a scoreless 7th inning against the Miami Marlins, earning him his second win. That month he would earn up to seven holds keeping his ERA under two at 1.72.  

He entered June with another blown save, this time in a 5-4 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers. On June 7th, he gave up a two run HR to the Rangers Robinson Chirinos, tying the game. But he ended up with a win after the Mets scored in the top of the 9th. 

On June 14th he pitched 1.1. scoreless innings against the Chicago Cubs to get to win #4 on the year against no losses. By mid-June, his ERA remained over two steadily for the first time. 

In July he earned his first save on July 21st against the Oakland Athletics at Citi Field. A week later he got his fifth win in relief coming in Seattle.

August brought two more blown saves & seeing his ERA get over three for the first time. But by August 30th he had 15 holds & earned his sixth win on August 27th against the Washington Nats. 

At this point he was 6-0 with a 2.66 ERA striking out 57 batters in 40.2 innings of work while walking 19 in a team leading 62 appearances.

The Mets picked up the option on his contract & he was penciled in as a key part of the 2018 Met bullpen. The year turned out to be a disaster and at the All Star break he was 1-1 with a 5.01 ERA in 38 appearances. 

Trivia: In June he made his first career start, he became the second pitcher since 1900 to allow two HRs to the first two batters he faced in a first start.

On August 6th, he earned his first save of the year, pitching the 9th inning & finishing off a 6-4 win over the Reds at Citi Field. 

On August 16th, he got his first career RBI, driving in Jose Reyes with a base hit, as the Mets
scored five runs with four straight batters. It all happened in the Mets amazing, 24-4 win at Philadelphia.

After taking a loss at Wrigley Field where he allowed two 7th inning runs, Blevins evened his record to 2-2 on September 1st, as he pitched a scoreless 10th inning in a 2-1 Mets win at San Francisco. 

On September 13th he finished a game against the Marlins, earning a win when Michael Conforto & Todd Frazier hit back-to-back HRs in the bottom of the 9th to win it.

For 2018 he was 3-2 with a save, 41 Ks & 22 walks in 42 innings of work posting a 4.85 ERA. He was second on the club with 64 appearances.

Post Mets Career: The Mets let him go to free agency, he was signed by the Oakland A's but then
had his contract purchased by the Atlanta Braves on April 28th, 2019.

For Atlanta, he made 45 appearances going 1-0 with ten holds & 12 games finished, posting a 3.90 ERA. He struck out 37 walked 16 in 32 innings of work. After the season he signed with the San Francisco Giants but was released in Spring Training.

Career Stats: In a 13-year career he is 30-13 with seven saves, 508 strike outs 195 walks, he gave up 50, pitching in 495 innings in 609 appearances.

He signed a minor league deal with the Mets in 2021 but soon retired & went into the broadcasting business, with the Mets.

SNY Analyst Career: In September of 2021 Blevins made his debut on SNY as a pre/post game analyst.

Family: Jerry proposed to his wife Whitney, at the National Mall in Washington D.C. They have two boys.