Local pro pitches in with Arcadia baseball team

ARCADIA — When Jerry Blevins was a seventh-grader at Arcadia School years ago, Baltimore Orioles catcher Chris Hoiles, a graduate of nearby Elmwood High School, visited to speak to students."I just remember how cool that was and what an impact that had on me — a local guy just being around and coming into speak for us a little bit," Blevins said. "I remember how impactful that was in that moment."Fast forward more than two decades, and Blevins is hoping to have a similar impact on the 13 members of the 2022 Arcadia High School baseball team. In his second year of retirement after 13 seasons of pitching in Major League Baseball, Blevins is serving as a part-time assistant to first-year head coach Rob Ellis, who is Blevins' brother. As he did last season, Blevins is continuing to do some pregame and postgame work on New York Mets broadcasts, as well as a podcast and spending as much time as he can with his wife and two young sons. But when he's able, he's on the practice field or in the dugout for the Redskins, a squad of 13 players, 10 of whom are sophomores. The team currently has a record of 2-7 overall and 1-3 in the Blanchard Valley Conference.Blevins, 38, said he's having a good time in his return to high school baseball, in which he was a teammate of Ellis, who is four years older, for one season."At first, the kids were pretty quiet when I was coming around," Blevins said during a recent afternoon as he and Ellis watched their team practice. "Now, when I'm in the dugout during a game, they're like, 'Hey, Coach, what do you have on this?' or 'What should I be doing here?' It's just little, fun things at this level of baseball you kind of forget about when you're at the big-league level for a long time. You forget some of the little nuances of the game. So, it's nice to be brought back down to the grassroots of baseball and why I love it, and making sure these kids have fun. "I'm happy for Rob to come and try to revitalize the program at Arcadia. We love the game of baseball. It's so much fun. And we want to make sure that's what these kids are doing — we're having fun, first and foremost, playing the game the right way. I think a lot of them weren't sure you could do both at the same time — play good baseball, but also have a lot of fun doing it."Blevins defied a lot of odds to have the career he did. Not only did he attend a tiny school in northwest Ohio, but he gained a spot on the University of Dayton baseball team as a walk-on. He developed into a standout left-handed pitcher and then signed with the Chicago Cubs after they drafted him in the 17th round of the 2004 draft.In 2007, after having been traded to the Oakland Athletics, he made his way from Class A to the majors.Blevins pitched for the A's, Mets, Washington Nationals and Atlanta Braves and proved to have the trustworthy left arm that every bullpen would love to have. Blevins pitched 495.1 innings during his big-league career, recorded a 3.54 earned run average and notched seven saves. He struck out 508 batters and walked 195. He made trips to the playoffs with the A's in 2012 and 2014.After sitting out the 2020 season, Blevins tried to come back with the Mets the next season, but decided to call it a career shortly after he was unable to make the major league squad.With Blevins moving back to the area, Ellis saw the opportunity to not only spend time with his brother but to add an abundance of knowledge and credibility to the coaching staff."I knew he couldn't give me a full-time thing," Ellis said. "And he goes, 'I'll be there when I can.' And it's been great, just having him here. "He's a big-city boy, so I'm just happy to keep him around here as long as I can," Ellis said jokingly. "I don't know if he'll leave me or what, but it's good having him here. He's got two wonderful boys I get to see all the time, and his wife comes here and helps with the concession stand. In a small community, having family around and just helping to do the little things like that, it means a lot to me. My mom comes and helps at the concession stand. My wife is great, doing all of her stuff. It takes a whole family to be successful. A lot of people have our backs and it's awesome to see."Blevins doesn't claim to have a major presence in coaching the squad. He's just trying to bring some enthusiasm for the game and knowledge."This is Rob's team and program," he said. "Bret Colman's his assistant and I'm here as much as I can be. My job is easy and fun. I show up, I help out with the pitchers, watching some bullpens. It's mostly just the mental approach because baseball's a game of failure and kids don't quite understand that sometimes. So, it's nice to get them wrapped around the bigger picture."Ellis took note of the often-repeated adage that a major-league hitter can be successful three of 10 times and be an all-star. "They get to think about, oh, I struck out there. Now, guess what? You have to go play defense on top of that," Blevins said. "And then you come back and you're going to do it again. To learn how to fail properly, I think, is like a life lesson baseball teaches you on a regular basis. I like to keep kids remembering, 'It's fun, man.' The guys — some of them have a lot of talent. But mostly, they're just a good team and they're a fun group to be around and it's always fun to be in the dugout with these guys."The Redskins certainly like having Blevins around. "He brings a lot of experience that we can all learn from," sophomore shortstop Adam Emerich said. "With him being a longtime MLB pitcher, it gives (his input) more of a sense of importance," sophomore first baseman Preston Snoke said. "He brings a lot of good positivity to the team. He gives us a lot of good advice and we all have a lot of respect for him."Added senior utility player Logan Hartsell: "He'll tell you if you're doing something wrong, but he's not going to get on you super-hard about it."Though this is Blevins' first venture into coaching, he didn't delve much into research and preparation. "I didn't want to dig too deep and get an agenda," he said. "I wanted to just hang out with the kids, help (Ellis) with anything that I see, give advice here and there on mechanical things, whatever the case may be — just do whatever I can and share some knowledge of the game because that's what baseball's about."The most you can learn comes from your peers. I'm not their peer anymore, being a retired player, but I have quite a bit of experience in doing it, so if I can just kind of give little nuggets here and there to just kind of push the game and have them see something on the field they may not have seen before, I think it's pretty fun."Ellis said he's able to see the influence his brother has had on the team."Not every day does a pro baseball player walk into your little, tiny school. ... They're excited every time he comes here," he said. "He's a celebrity, so we're happy to see him and the boys are super excited just about everything. Any knowledge he has to help these young guys out — it's something you can't get every day. That's the most important thing — just seeing these guys keep growing and seeing how excited they are about not only baseball, but Jerry walking in. It's kind of cool to these kids, and we like that."Blevins and Ellis have in past years conducted three one-day baseball camps for area youngsters, and Blevins is pleased to be able to do more."I've always wanted to be a part of Arcadia," he said. "I've always taken pride in being from here and going to school here. And I'd never really had an opportunity to be a part of it again."When (Ellis) got the job, I was excited and I was like, 'Let me know if I can help in any way I can.' So, he asked me to come out whenever I can be here. "I think he's an amazing coach. I really think he was kind of destined to do this, whether it's baseball, particularly, but I've also seen him coach basketball. He's a great coach, so that's easy to be part of — he wants to build a program here, like a real program. Not just a baseball team. He wants to build a competitive baseball program where you don't need to know in any particular year what's going on because you know Arcadia's going to bring it on the ball diamond."I think he has the ability to do that. It's just getting the kids out here to believe in it, too, and if my presence, being here every once in a while, helps that out — at least to get him off the ground, you know what I mean? ... I get to hang out with my brother, watch baseball, watch these kids who are really fun to be around and hopefully help build a program for the future that can be competitive with the Riverdales and the Van Burens and the Libertys (in the BVC)."