For Air Force grad Jax, repping Team USA 'quickest yes I’ve ever said'

PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. -- The call was a surprise, but the response came quickly for Griffin Jax.

Not long after returning to his Phoenix-area home for the offseason, the Rays reliever heard from Mark DeRosa. He wanted to know if Jax, the first Air Force Academy graduate to play in the Majors, would like to pitch for Team USA in the upcoming World Baseball Classic.

“I mean, there’s only one answer. It was so easy,” Jax said. “When DeRo called, it was the quickest ‘Yes’ I’ve ever said in my life.”

Jax, left-hander Garrett Cleavinger (Team USA), reliever Edwin Uceta (Dominican Republic), right-hander Yoendrys Gómez (Venezuela), All-Star infielders Junior Caminero (D.R.) and Jonathan Aranda (Mexico) and pitching prospects Gary Gill Hill and Owen Wild (Great Britain) will represent the Rays and their countries in the WBC beginning next month.

It's a particularly meaningful assignment for Jax, the 31-year-old right-hander and Captain in the U.S. Air Force Reserve -- an honor he doesn’t take lightly. He’s thrilled to wear the uniform, play alongside some of the United States’ biggest stars and spend time with another former Air Force Academy pitcher: Paul Skenes.

“It's been a while since I've been in that boat, per se, but I think it'll hit me a little bit harder once I see the uniform in the locker room,” Jax said. “It'll almost be like a callup again, seeing my name on the locker with that uniform.”

Despite his background, playing for Team USA will be a first for Jax. He said he “politely declined” an invitation to do so in the postponed 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, worrying that the opportunity would delay the Major League debut he wound up making for the Twins on June 8, 2021.

Jax was a starting pitching prospect then, but he has since become a high-leverage reliever with one of the nastiest arsenals in the game. He’s also been a bullpen workhorse, making 281 appearances over the past four years and at least 71 each of the last three seasons. The Rays gave up young starter Taj Bradley to get him from the Twins prior to last year’s Trade Deadline.

Now, Jax is getting comfortable in his first Spring Training camp with the Rays. He arrived early to learn his way around the Charlotte Sports Park complex, meet everyone he didn’t get to know during his two months with the team last season -- “It’s almost like I got traded again, in a way,” he noted -- and continue his preparation for both the WBC and the regular season.

There was some talk late last season about Jax moving back into the rotation, and he said he doesn’t want to shut the door on that being an option, especially when he reaches free agency. But for now, Jax figures to be a key figure in a more fluid bullpen than Tampa Bay has deployed in recent years.

Closer Pete Fairbanks had functioned as a traditional ninth-inning closer the past three seasons, but the Rays have been open regarding their plans to get back to a more matchup-based, flexible system. Jax, Uceta and Cleavinger are among the pitchers who could work in high-leverage roles.

“Who knows how it's going to evolve, but I do like it being fluid,” manager Kevin Cash said. “I think we have found ways to mix and match, learning that you don't always win or lose games in the ninth inning.”

That’s just fine with Jax. He’s done a little bit of everything, from starting and opening to closing. His 4.23 ERA last year may not reflect a lights-out late-inning arm, but he struck out 99 batters in 66 innings and had the lowest xFIP (2.19) of any big league pitcher who worked at least 50 innings last season.

Jax said he prefers to think of himself as a “fireman,” someone who can get big outs in the sixth or finish games in the ninth. That should be music to Cash’s ears, and it may have appealed to DeRosa, who told Jax he didn’t want to “stack my roster with 20 closers.”

“I don't want to have an ego,” Jax said. “I just want to go when my name gets called on the phone, and that's enough adrenaline as it is.”

Speaking of adrenaline, Jax is already pondering the possibility of facing a teammate in a huge moment on the international stage. He’s even joked with Caminero and Aranda about having a Shohei Ohtani/Mike Trout moment, noting that Team USA will face Mexico in pool play at Houston’s Daikin Park and could face the Dominican Republic team later in the tournament.

“I've said, 'Hey, watch out, man. That's going to be me versus you here in a couple weeks,’” Jax said, smiling. “They've seen me. They know what's coming.”