Jerry Richard Blevins (born September 6, 1983), nicknamed Gordo (Spanish for “fat”), is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Atlanta Braves of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played for the Oakland Athletics, Washington Nationals and New York Mets.
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.[3] Blevins became a fan of the Oakland Athletics during the 1990 World Series and his favorite baseball players included Jose Canseco and Rickey Henderson,[4] though he idolized Ken Griffey, Jr.
Before graduating in 2001 with fewer than 40 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 (516th overall) round 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.
In 2005, he pitched for the Single-A Peoria Chiefs, 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 a 0.38 ERA before being promoted to the Double-A Tennessee Smokies on May 15, 2007. He pitched in 23 games for the Smokies, in which he had a 2–2 record with a 1.53 ERA. Blevins pitched a total of 38 games in the Cubs organization and had a 3–2 record with a 1.02 ERA.
On April 28, 2019, the Athletics traded Blevins to the Atlanta Braves in exchange for cash considerations. Blevins debuted for the Braves’ on the same day, in a game against the Colorado Rockies. He was designated for assignment on May 14, 2019. He had his contract purchased for a second time on May 18, 2019.
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