A’s impressed by Weems, a former position player turned reliever
Jordan Weems was on the road with the Double-A Portland (Maine) Sea Dogs in May 2016 when he got a call from then-manager Carlos Febles to meet him in his room at the team hotel.
Owner of a .119 batting average at the time with three times as many strikeouts (24) as base hits (eight), Weems feared the worst.
“I immediately just thought that this is it,” Weems said. “They’re releasing me or sending me down.”
Turns out it was moment that would change the trajectory of Weems’ professional baseball career.
Weems, a longtime catcher who had just been moved to first base, was told by the Boston Red Sox — the team that drafted him in 2011 — that they wanted him to become a pitcher.
“It was a lot to (absorb) in just that instant,” said Weems, who estimated he hadn’t pitched in a competitive game since he was a teen on a travel team in Georgia.
Four years after that meeting, Weems, 27, finds himself on a major league roster for the first time and will be in uniform Friday on Opening Night when the A’s host the Los Angeles Angels at the Coliseum.
The A’s officially selected Weems to their 40-man roster on Sunday, and he was then informed by manager Bob Melvin that he would be a part of the team’s 30-man roster for the start of the season.
“I can’t imagine somebody who’s been a catcher their career and then all of a sudden, (a few) years later, he’s in the big leagues as a pitcher, and deservedly so,” Melvin said. “He earned his way here.”
“It’s been a long, tough grind for me, converting in 2016 from a catcher to a pitcher” Weems said. “It was a leap of faith for me, so it was emotional when Bob told me the news.”
Weems was signed by the A’s in the offseason and invited to big league camp after he posted a 3.87 ERA to go with 208 strikeouts in 200 minor league innings.
When he arrived at Hohokam Stadium in Mesa in February, his primary goal was to show that he belonged, even though he had thrown just 15 innings in Triple-A.
“I wanted to come in and make a statement,” Weems said. “With it being my first big league invite, I wanted to come in and just pound the strike zone. Show them that I could go right at guys.”
Weems impressed, both in spring training and summer camp.
“We see the numbers, the strikeouts and he throws hard,” Melvin said. “But when you get the feedback from the hitters, it’s impressive to where he’s been and where he’s come from. He’s pretty excited about (the news) and he should be proud of himself.”
Melvin said it was hard not to compare Weems to Sean Doolittle, who spent three seasons as a position player from 2007 to 2009 in the A’s minor league system before he converted to a reliever.
With a dominant four-seam fastball, Doolittle pitched for the A’s from 2012 to 2017 and is now a two-time all star. He recorded 54 saves the last two seasons for the Washington Nationals, the defending World Series champions.
Weems looks at Doolittle and Los Angeles Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen, a former catcher, as inspiration for what he hopes to do.
“There’s a lot of talent everywhere in this sport,” Weems said. “So when guys are maybe struggle at one end, they still have something that makes them special in another sense, whether it’s a great arm or maybe their speed.
“I like to look at it that way, and just know that there’s other guys out there, so why can’t I be the same?”
Weems made a brief appearance for the A’s in Monday’s 6-2 loss to the Giants, allowing an RBI single to Wilmer Flores and getting Steven Duggar to ground out. His fastball reached 96 mph, and he also used a slider that was around 84-85 mph. Weems also said he’s also comfortable throwing a split-finger fastball.
“It was an awesome experience,” Weems said. “It wasn’t opening day but it was good to be under the lights. It was good to go out there and face another team.”