DUNEDIN, Fla. – Even Jake Elmore was surprised when he realized what then-Houston Astros manager Bo Porter was telling him on Aug. 19, 2013.
As a utility player, Elmore was used to appearing at different positions around the infield and outfield. That versatility allowed him to reach the big leagues in the first place. But this time Carlos Corporan had just suffered a concussion, so Porter was suggesting something else entirely: catching.
“He said ‘Jake, strap ‘em on,’” Elmore recalled. “I was like ‘no way.’”
The Astros had been using Elmore, who caught in high school, to handle occasional bullpen sessions, so they knew he could catch. Instead of moving Jason Castro behind the plate and losing their designated hitter, they had Elmore don the tools of ignorance for parts of five innings.
That’s when things got really interesting. The Astros, a historically inept team that would ultimately finish the 2013 season 51-111, were trailing the Texas Rangers 16-5, and they didn’t want to waste another one of their regular pitchers in a game they were destined to lose. For the second time that evening, Porter gestured toward Elmore.
“Jake, how do you feel?” Porter asked. “You’re pitching the eighth.”
“It was probably because I got shelled that game,” recalled Blue Jays right-hander Lucas Harrell, who started that evening for the Astros. “(Elmore’s) athletic, one of those guys you can use in any situation. You can literally put him in anywhere.”
Mitch Moreland, Jurickson Profar and David Murphy were no match for Elmore, who retired the side with just 11 pitches. (As a pitcher, he relies mostly on fastballs and change-ups, but don’t sleep on his knuckle-curve. “I don’t know where it’s going, but every now and then I’ll throw it.”)
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The following month Elmore played centre field for Houston, becoming the first player in Astros franchise history to appear at all nine positions in one season. Now in Blue Jays camp on a minor-league deal, he’s hoping to build on his legacy of exceptional versatility by contributing to a winning team.
“It’s something you can tell your kids about, I guess, but at the end of the day you want to win,” Elmore said. “If that’s the definition of your career, it’s probably not a good thing, but it’s cool to have done and I’m proud of it.”
Elmore has reached the big leagues in each of the past five seasons, each time with a different club. Most recently, he played 59 games for last year’s Milwaukee Brewers, appearing at second base, third base and all three outfield positions.
He hasn’t caught in a game since that memorable 2013 debut, but his receiving skills are sharp; he catches bullpen sessions of St. Louis Cardinals right-hander and former college teammate Mike Leake during the off-season, often in full gear. There’s truly no place you can’t put him.
“The longer you’re around the game, you realize how valuable those guys are,” Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. “It’s so difficult to come off of the bench when you haven’t been playing and be productive … those guys are very, very valuable.”
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Elmore, 29, has been playing all around the diamond for a while now. He mostly caught in high school, but always knew he wanted to move to the infield, so when Wallace State Community College offered him the change to play shortstop, he was in. Elmore started at short, but when the team’s centre-fielder broke his hand, he took over for a couple weeks, gaining some experience in the outfield.
Impressed by his success as an amateur, the Arizona Diamondbacks selected Elmore in the 34th round of the 2008 draft. They viewed him as a middle infielder, but he soon started playing all over the infield and outfield while compiling a .288 batting average and .387 on-base percentage in the minor leagues.
That offensive production hasn’t translated to the MLB level—Elmore’s a career .215 hitter with a .297 on-base percentage in 197 career games—but the Blue Jays still sought him out this winter, mindful of the depth required to make it through a long season.
“He knows how to handle the bat,” Gibbons said. “He knows that style of game—the little man’s game. You’ve got no worries about putting him anywhere.”
Elmore was equally sold on the Blue Jays, though other teams expressed interest.
“They were the most aggressive,” he said. “You want to go where you’re wanted and it seemed like they had a good thing going with the playoffs the past two years.”
Elmore’s chances of making the Blue Jays’ opening roster seem slim with Darwin Barney and Ryan Goins ahead of him on the middle-infield depth chart. Beyond that, Gregorio Petit and Jonathan Diaz are among those on the MLB radar, so the Blue Jays will have alternatives to consider should a need arise.
There are no guarantees for Elmore, but he’s not expecting any, choosing instead to rely on the versatile skill-set that got him this far.
“I work hard to keep my head down. That’s kind of my philosophy,” Elmore said. “It’s every kid’s dream to play in the big-leagues, so to say I wasn’t striving to make the big-league club would just be a lie, but that’s not my sole focus.”
