Jerry Blevins

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.\n', ' 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 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.\n', ' 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.\n', '