It should have been one of the best nights in his life. A year after the Chicago White Sox promoted him to the major leagues, Jace Fry, 25, was given his first MLB career start on Sept. 26. He only pitched one inning, and the White Sox got shellacked by the Cleveland Indians, 10-2. Yet, the biggest L that Jace took that night happened online. His fiancée, Kelsi Blalock, seemingly incinerated their engagement with a series of Instagram posts, accusing the pitcher of cheating on her, among other things. As Jace picks up the pieces of his relationship, here are the wild details:
1. Jace is (or was) engaged to a woman who said he gave her a STD. “Happy first MLB start to this piece of [poop emoji],” an account reportedly belonging to Kelsi, tweeted at 6:47 PM ET on Sept. 26. She tagged Jace (whose twitted has been disabled) and the White Sox official account, as she shared screenshots from now-deleted Instagram posts. In the posts – which appeared to be older pictures with new captions, according to Deadspin – Kelsi tore into Jace, accusing him of being unfaithful.
“We call this: at the bowling ally(sic) he took the girl he was screwing when I wasn’t in town.” “26th birthday at the ballpark; wasting another year of my life on a sociopath.” “When you think he won’t give you an std again…” Wait, again? Damn. In one picture, where Jace is autographing baseballs for a group of kids, Kelsi wrote, “Give that girl over there my number, but don’t tell her I’m engaged.”
2. He was going to get married this year. “New fun game of who will RSVP on my wedding website under the most clever name. At least something good has come from my hell hath no fury moment,” Kelsi tweeted.
According to his wedding page on The Knot (which was still active at time of publication) he and Kelsi were supposed to get married on Dec. 1, 2018 at the Maysara Winery in McMinnville, Oregon. You could also peruse their registry (though, the “BEVERAGES” item has been fulfilled, as Kelsi might need a drink after this.)
3. Jace’s major love is baseball, it seems. So, who is this guy? Jace Hayden Fry, born in 1993, is a Beaverton, Oregon native. He played Little League as a kid, and his team – the Murrayhill Little League – represented the Northwest in the 20016 Little League World Series (they lost to the Southeast in the knockout round.) He played for Oregon State, pitching for the Beavers. In 2014, he pitched a no-hitter and finished the season with a record of 11-2. During the 2014 MLB draft, the White Sox picked him as the 77th overall pick.
https://twitter.com/K_blalock2/status/1045082533061308416
4. He’s already undergone major surgery. Eventually, pitchers undergo ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction, aka Tommy John surgery, to repair a ligament in their throwing arm. Some pitchers don’t regain their level of performance after surgery, while some seem to get better. Jace has had Tommy John surgery done twice, according to MLB, both in 2012 and 2015.
5. He could have ended up in Oakland. A change of scenery wouldn’t mean that Jace wouldn’t (allegedly) cheat on his fiancée, but his life may have been completely different had he decided to join the Oakland Athletics in 2011. The A’s selected him in the ninth round of the 2011 MLB draft, but the signing bonus they offered wasn’t high enough for him to forego college.
Instead, he pitched for the Beavers, got picked by the White Sox, and made his way through the developmental system (including the Great Falls Voyagers, the Winston-Salem Dash, and the Birmingham Barons.) And, on the night of his first MLB start, his personal life went up in smoke.