Get to Know: Q&A with Brewers reliever Jeremy Jeffress

The Journal Sentinel’s Todd Rosiak caught up with Milwaukee Brewers reliever Jeremy Jeffress to discuss his history with the team, his battles with anxiety and epilepsy and his best baseball friend, Will Smith. Jeffress, who turned 30 on Sept. 21, is 4-0 with a 3.68 earned-run average and a WHIP of 1.55 in 19 appearances (one start) with Milwaukee. He was drafted 16th overall by the Brewers in 2006 and is in his third stint with the team after he was acquired from the Texas Rangers in exchange for minor-league pitcher Tayler Scott on July 31. Jeffress is playing on a one-year deal that’s paying him $2.1 million.

Q. You just turned 30 years old, you made your first major-league start and you registered your first major-league at-bats. September has been a pretty busy and interesting month for you, hasn’t it?

A. It’s definitely been fun. It’s always a great time here in Milwaukee. I love the city, love the fans. Yeah, turning 30 was a big step. Glad I made it (laughs). But to just come back and do better than what I was doing in Texas, I’m having fun. And to come back and be in a playoff race with a team that I’ve enjoyed over the years means a lot. The first start, that was to help the team. I’m here to do whatever at this point.

Q. You joke about reaching 30. Have you ever looked back and thought about all you’ve experienced since the Brewers drafted you out of high school in 2006?

A. Most definitely. I’ve been through a lot of trials. I look at them as little obstacles in life. People make their own path. Unfortunately, mine’s been a little rocky, but I’ve never gotten down on myself. In my head, I never gave up. You go through stuff and you learn lessons. It’s how you bounce back from them. That’s in everything you do. This game teaches you a lot of that because you have to play day to day. So I just keep moving forward, because I’ve got a lot of people on my side. A lot of family, friends, cities. I’m not a cold-hearted person; I’m very warm and welcoming. I just try to do the best I can without getting in anybody’s way.

Q. This is your third different tenure with the Brewers. If you take a step back, why do you think you keep wind up coming back? Why has it been such a good fit for both parties?

A. I just look at it like I got drafted here, started my career in the minor leagues. I was a first-round draft pick but I didn’t look at it as, ‘I’m a first-rounder, I should be moving up and doing all this stuff.’ I just waited for my time. Pitched when I needed to pitch. I didn’t break (major-league) camp until 2009, and I was drafted in 2006. But I understood their path with me. I was young, I played hard, I hustled. They just loved the personality that I have. Every coach that’s in the organization, I’ve basically played for them a couple times. Spring training has always been a place where I’ve connected with the coaches a lot, whether it be joking around or working on something or going out to dinner or talking about life. Everybody knows what type of guy I am, and it’s definitely just a comfortable feeling. Every time I’m here, every time I see our coaches, it’s great.

Q. Why don’t you think things worked out for you in Texas? They traded a lot (Lewis Brinson, Luis Ortiz and Ryan Cordell) for you and Jonathan Lucroy.

A. I don’t know. I think I was trying to do too much. I was trying to be a guy that I wasn’t yet at that point. We were struggling a little bit in the beginning of the year, our closer was struggling a little bit, and once he left I was like, ‘I’ve done this before; why am I not the guy?’ They told me to keep pitching, ‘We need you to do just a little bit more and get some lefties out,’ and I kept trying too hard. It was an uphill battle, and it never should have reached that point. I don’t know, man. The city was great, the fans were great, the organization was great — they gave me every chance like Milwaukee has done. Nothing that they did was wrong. I was just trying too hard to be ‘the guy’ instead of just going out there and getting outs and showing them I can get outs in the ninth as well. It was fun over there and all those guys were great. They have some of the greatest players in (Adrian) Beltre and Elvis (Andrus) and (Shin-Soo) Choo. (Carlos) Gomez was there, and we connected pretty well. But this game, it'll show you what you are and what you need to do. And that’s a tough league, the American League. There’s DHs, there’s more hitters in the lineup. They play the game different. It was just all of it, how I performed. I wish I could have done better. Maybe it just wasn’t meant to be over there.

Q. You were arrested for DWI last Aug. 26 while in Texas and subsequently spent 22 days in a rehab facility. Can you explain the situation, and how tough was it to go through?

A. The rehab I went to was more mental. It was kind of related to alcohol, but it was more about the process of thinking. It was a different type of rehab place. It wasn't a substance abuse place. It was actually a place where you find better medication — I was there for my seizures as well. Whatever was in the papers ... they write what they write. But that night wasn't like the papers said. That night I had a panic attack. I thought I was going to have a seizure at my place by myself, and that's why I got up and left. I just needed to go somewhere. I made the decision to stop at a bar and just calm down with a drink or whatever. It wasn't like I was just like, 'Let's go party,' and I got in my car. I should have never drove. Don't get me wrong — it was a stupid mistake, and I regret it. But it's not like I was out there partying or whatever. So when I went to the rehab place in Houston, it was a mental rehabilitation place. They teach you steps, how to deal with things, deal with people, deal with certain situations when you're panicking. When you're angry and mad. It was a place where you could look at yourself and realize who you really are. And when I came out of there, people could really see the change. That place helped me out a lot. I would recommend it to anybody who's in that state that needs help. It's called Menninger, and MLB chose that place. I respect them, and it was a great place to go. I was in there with doctors, lawyers, high-end professionals — all walks of life — and you see how they struggle, too, with their friends and families and different types of medications. But I was glad to go there and I wanted to go there; it's not like I was mad and rejected it. In the beginning, I was kind of skeptical about it. But once I went through the process it helped me out a great deal.

Q. So it sounds like it was a tough few weeks, but something you came out better for in the end.

A. For sure. I'm mad that I got the DUI, but I'm glad it happened because I could have kept going, and it could have been worse. So I'm glad it got nipped in the bud right there. It happened, and maybe it was God's plan to get me to understand that's not who I am. People will have their own perception of things from reading the paper; the paper puts a lot of stuff in there that may be true or may not be true. You never know. But I'm not opposed to stepping up and telling you what really happened because that is what really happened. I still struggle a little bit with the seizure stuff. I haven't had one in about a year and a half. I'm still on medication. We tried to find a better medication in that facility. Couldn't find one, so I'm still using the same one now. But everything is going well, man. Being back here has just calmed me down a lot. I'm comfortable; everybody knows me. It's just going well now.

Q. Part of being a professional athlete is often times having to deal with your failures or shortcomings in public, is it not? Those of us who aren't in the public eye don't have to deal with the scrutiny.

A. Yeah. I mean, normal life affects everybody. The way we live our lives may be different, but the consequences are the same. It's just how you learn from them. I always say that. People mess up, but it's how you bounce back and learn from it.

Q. You've been a case study in bouncing back, dating to your struggles early in your minor-league career. Is that fair to say?

A. That's what I'm saying. People can judge all they want to, but I promise you I've never quit being the same guy. You've never seen me disrespect anybody. I'm a country boy from Virginia. I don't need much.

Q. You're eligible for arbitration once again this off-season.I'm assuming you'll be hoping to be tendered by the Brewers?

A. Most definitely. I hope they brought me back so they can keep me forever now. Lifetime Brewer. I'd love to end my career here. That'd be awesome. It's definitely what I've dreamed of since the day I got drafted. But I know how the business goes. You've got to let it play out. But I do want to be here and help this organization achieve great things. We're going to try to push for it, but when the business side takes hold you've got to do what you've got to do.

Q. What's it like now being in the thick of the postseason chase?

A. From 2011, Milwaukee's always had great players. It was just sometimes they couldn't put it together. Being back now with this group of guys, it's a fun group and they play hard and work hard each and every day. I'm definitely glad to be back in this race.

Q. You were part of a young nucleus of players including Lorenzo Cain, Alcides Escobar and Jake Odorizzi that was traded to the Kansas City Royals for Zack Greinke and Yuniesky Betancourt in the 2010 off-season, a move that almost helped get the Brewers to the World Series in 2011. Was it tough watching that from afar, knowing you could have been a part of it?

A. I was kind of young back then. I didn't really understand it as much as I do now. But leaving Milwaukee around that time, Ned Yost had left a few years earlier so I was kind of comfortable going over there as well. But I wasn't really thinking that leaving was going to be so hard. I realized at that point it is a business, because I did think I was going to stay because I was drafted really high and I thought I was going to be a franchise player here for a while. That's when I learned about the business — it doesn't matter who you are. If they need you, they need you.

Q. Your running mate last time you were here in Milwaukee was fellowreliever Will Smith. Now he's trying to bounce back from Tommy John surgery with the San Francisco Giants. Are you guys still close?

A. Most definitely. We played together in Kansas City, too, since Double-A. When I broke camp in 2011 with Kansas City, close to the end of the year I went back to Double-A and he looked at me like, 'Dude, what are you doing?' We got real close then. We both got called back up (later). He's definitely been a big help since the first day I met him. A big, huge supporter, huge friend. We think alike, so that's why we clicked. We talk almost daily. We play video games together online. Social media, on the phone. He's doing well, though. I think he's in Arizona starting to throw, and he'll be ready for spring training. He'll be fine.