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Jerry Richard Blevins (born September 6, 1983), nicknamed Gordo (Spanish language for "fat"), is an American former professional baseball pitcher. 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 Mets' pregame and postgame shows on SNY, where he sometimes does color commentary for the network.
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.
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.
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. On April 29, Blevins got the win in a 19-inning game against the Angels, pitching 1.2 scoreless innings. The Athletics won the game in the bottom of the 19th on a walk-off Brandon Moss home run. Blevins also batted in that game, striking out against Barry Enright in the 18th inning. In 67 appearances in 2013, Blevins went 5–0 with 4 holds and a 3.15 ERA, striking out 52 in 60 innings.
On April 19, 2015, Blevins was hit by a comebacker and suffered a distal radius fracture of the left arm and was placed on the 15-day disabled list. Blevins was recovering when he slipped on a curb and re-fractured his arm again, and missed the rest of the season. Blevins finished the 2015 season 1–0 with 4 strikeouts, no walks, no hits, and no hit batsmen in 5 innings pitched. , no player has pitched more innings in a season without giving up a hit, walk, or HBP.
On December 15, 2015, Blevins signed a one-year, $4 million deal with incentives. In 2016 he was 4–2 with two saves and a 2.79 ERA and 52 strikeouts in 42 innings over 73 games.
On February 9, 2017, Blevins signed a one-year contract with the Mets that included a team option for the 2018 season. Republished by CBS News
In 2017 he was 6–0 with one save and a 2.94 ERA and 69 strikeouts over 49 innings in 75 games (3rd in the NL). In 2017 he threw a curveball 50.1% of the time, tops in MLB. Statcast Pitch Arsenals Leaderboard | baseballsavant.com
On June 24, 2018, at Citi Field, after a late injury to Jason Vargas, Blevins made his first Major League starting pitcher. He allowed home runs to the first two batters he faced, Enrique Hernández and Max Muncy of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Blevins became only the second pitcher since 1900 to allow home runs to both of the first two hitters in his first career start. He was pulled after two innings.
On August 16 during the Mets' 24–4 rout of the Phillies, Blevins had his first MLB hit and RBI. It came off of position player Scott Kingery, who was pitching with the Phillies trailing by 17 runs. "Blevins' 1st MLB hit plates run", mlb.com
In 2018 Blevins was 3–2, with a 4.85 ERA, in 42.2 innings over 64 games. He became a free agent following the season.
Blevins is a supporter of same-sex marriage and when the Supreme Court decided Obergefell v. Hodges, Blevins tweeted "#LoveWins".
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