Joe Jimenez to play for World Team in upcoming Futures Game

COMSTOCK PARK, MI - It may have been just one at-bat, but West Whitecaps right-hander Joe Jimenez took pride in coming out ahead in a brief moment of sibling rivalry.

The 20-year-old Jimenez once struck out his older brother A.J. Jimenez, a catcher in the Toronto system, the only time he ever faced him during a professional game. The at-bat didn't come during some whiffle ball game when they were youngsters or back home on a dusty, vacant lot in Puerto Rico. It came when the two battled during a winter league game in Puerto Rico.

"Outside of the park we're brothers," said Jimenez, who is ninth in the Midwest League in saves as the season's second half opened on June 25. "But inside (the park) we are enemies."

While the younger Jimenez one-upped his brother in their only professional meeting, the two have taken different routes in pro baseball. Five years older, A.J. has spent eight years in the Jays system as a catcher. He has yet to reach the majors, but A.J. does have 89 games of Triple-A experience and twice played in the Midwest League in Lansing in 2009-10.

Meanwhile, Joe could be on a fast track to a Tigers' bullpen seemingly always in need of a lift. After fashioning a 1.60 ERA with 65 strikeouts in 45 innings in his first two professional seasons, Jimenez is 3-1 with a 1.66 ERA and seven saves as the second half opened. He is one of 10 pitchers selected for the World Team in the July 12 Futures Game in Cincinnati. Baseball America said Jimenez, whose fastball reaches 98 mph to go along with a power slider, also has "advanced control for a power pitcher his age."

Jimenez, who signed as an 18-year-old free agent in 2013, said he's always believed he could succeed in pro baseball.

"I've played since I was 4-years old. My dad played baseball, I have a brother playing in Florida (at Bethune-Cookman University) and my other brother with the Jays," he said. "It's in my blood."

While his brother isn't a pitcher, Jimenez said some of the best advice he's ever received came from his older brother. It wasn't about throwing hard, worrying about strikeouts or what an organization has in mind for him. The best advice he received from A.J. was about the mental side of the game.

"He said you have to control your emotions," Jimenez said. "If you walk a batter or give up a homer, you have to keep it the same. You have to stay calm. Sometimes you have to work through a lot and it's hard."

"You can control only what you can control. Don't worry about things which aren't under your control," he said. "You control how to throw the ball, you don't control other things," he said. "The only thing I worry about is doing well."

While Jimenez has an intriguing future on the diamond, he doesn't worry what would happen if he doesn't make it in the game. His mother and brother are both accountants and when's he's out of baseball, he figures he'd go to Florida International and learn to become an accountant.

"Baseball is No. 1 with me," he said. "But I like accounting. I like numbers. I'd probably be an accountant. But I love baseball."