Nothing can be greater than playing baseball for a living

Go ahead and make your snide comments and your unoriginal jokes.  They weren't funny when you were 12.

I am pulling for Jeremy Jeffress.  The title of this post (taken from a quote in this article in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel) is a big reason why.

The Milwaukee Brewers' 2006 first-round draft pick missed the first two months while finishing a 100-game suspension for testing positive a third time for marijuana. He then was assigned to low Class A Wisconsin, moving up to high Class A Brevard County and eventually Class AA Huntsville.

Then the big leagues.

"I'm on cloud nine right now," Jeffress said Wednesday after reporting to the Brewers as a September call-up. "It was a hope and prayer (to come up). It's a great opportunity. I couldn't even stand up when I first heard it.

"It was big steps, back on the mound, coming off the suspension. A great learning experience. I've been to the bottom and I worked my way back to the top. I thank everybody that stuck behind me."

The Brewers put Jeffress, 22, on their 40-man roster June 29, some two months before necessary. They called it a reward for good behavior coming off the suspension, but it also protected him from a lifetime ban should he test positive for marijuana again.

Jeffress knew there would be skeptics who expected him to lapse back into marijuana use.

"I've been doing great, staying clean," he said. "The temptation was there, but nothing can be greater than playing baseball for a living. This is what I love to do. The only way I can (stop speculation) is to prove them wrong."

Emphasis added.  Congratulations on your MLB debut last night, Jeremy Jeffress.  Here is to many more scoreless innings for you.

Haudricourt on Jeffress

Milwaukee Brewers beat writer Tom Haudricourt was in Appleton last Wednesday to talk with Jeremy Jeffress.

Brewers' prospect Jeffress determined to stay clean

When you're one strike away from the baseball death penalty, every day presents a unique challenge. Any misstep and your career is over.

Jeremy Jeffress knows that feeling all too well.

"It is scary," he said. "It's like you're walking on eggshells."

The Milwaukee Brewers' hard-throwing pitching prospect put himself in that dangerous position by being unable to stop smoking marijuana. Jeffress knew he would be tested. He knew the consequences.

Yet he could not stop.

"It is a life-threatening thing, not just a baseball thing," said the 22-year-old right-hander, a first-round pick in the 2006 draft.

"I had to fix it, or I wasn't going anywhere. It would take me to the ground."

Go and read it all.

Just to go on the record here, I am really pulling for Jeffress to make it.

July 1, 2010: Transactions

RHP Jeremy Jeffress has been promoted to Brevard County from Wisconsin

RHP Alex Jones has been promoted to Wisconsin from Helena

Jones was a 27th round pick of the Milwaukee Brewers in the 2010 draft out of Jacksonville State University.

The JSU page for Jones

The MiLB.com page for Jones.

Jeffress on the record

Mike Woods of the Post-Crescent caught up with Jeremy Jeffress.

The dark clouds that have followed Jeremy Jeffress throughout the past two years arrived here Thursday right about the same time he did.

But as he sat in the home dugout and observed the pregame rituals taking place before him on Time Warner Field at Fox Cities Stadium, nothing could change a disposition that was mostly sunny.

"It's amazing man," he said, a wide grin emerging as he looked at the players on the field. "I love the game of baseball. Anytime I'm on the diamond, it's a great feeling."

Fresh off a 100-game suspension, and a 50-game suspension prior to that for violating the Minor League Drug Treatment and Prevention program — he tested positive three times for marijuana use — it's safe to say Jeffress hasn't felt all that great for quite some time.

A team in desperate need of quality pitching, this 22-year-old was expected to deliver. Born with an electric arm, he's able to hit triple digits on the radar gun with his fastball.

I will choose to focus on the third paragraph.

When can you expect to see him on the mound?

The Brewers have made it known they hope Jeffress is able to get his feet firmly on the ground and move through the system quickly, possibly joining the big club by season's end.

As part of that process, they have moved Jeffress to the bullpen and he will make his first appearance for the Rattlers on Sunday at Fox Cities Stadium, [Reid] Nichols said.

So, Sunday.