Jake Elmore, a Jack-of-all-trades

CINCINNATI -- Four players in major league history have played every position in one game -- Bert Campaneris (Kansas City A's), Cesar Tovar (Minnesota), Scot Sheldon (Texas) and Shane Halter (Detroit).

Jake Elmore would like to do the same thing, under the right circumstances. And he already has rehearsed for the job.

As a member of the Houston Astros last season, the 27-year-old Elmore played every position over the course of the season. In fact, he both caught and pitched in one game.

Elmore played most of this season as a second baseman at Class AAA Louisville and is a September call-up of the Cincinnati Reds.

But he is ready for duty wherever needed, as are most players who have never been considered prospects. He was a 34th round draft pick in 2008 by the Arizona Diamondbacks

He played high school ball in Pleasant Grove, Ala., then attended Wallace State (Ala.) Community College for two years and transferred to Arizona State for a year before he was drafted.

Most 34th round draft picks are fill-in material for a team's minor league teams with little hope of ever making it to the majors. But Elmore is a survivor.

He played 30 games for the 2012 Diamondbacks and 52 games last season for the Astros as a Jack-of-all trades.

"I played all nine over the course of the season, pitching and catching in the same game," he said. "Both were emergency situations.

"We had Carlos Corporan catching and our other catcher, Jason Castro, was our DH," said Elmore. "Corporan got hit and they tested him for a concussion and told him, 'You're done.' Instead of burning the DH in an American League game, they had seen me catching bullpens and said, 'All right, you're catching."

Elmore caught four innings and then came the eighth inning in a blowout game in which the Astros were running out of pitchers and suddenly Elmore found himself on the mound against Texas.

And he pitched a perfect inning -- no runs, no hits, no walks and no strikeouts. So his career major-league pitching earned run average is 0.00.

"I actually was recruited out of high school as a catcher, but I told them at Wallace State that I wanted to play the infield to save my knees," he said. "That one game against Texas is the only time I ever caught in a professional game."

He has played most games at shortstop, the second most in left field and second base the third most.

Elmore is only 5-foot-9, a short target for a first baseman, but he played there once for Houston, too.

"They pinch-ran for first baseman Brett Wallace and manager Bo Porter came up to me at the end of the eighth inning, and we had the lead by one run, and said, 'Are ready to make your debut at first base?' So they put me at first and that was that."

Of playing all positions in one game, Elmore said, "If the team had already clinched a playoff spot or already been eliminated and wasn't playing a contending team, I'd do it. But you have to maintain the intergrity of the game.

"It is more show than anything else," he said. "It would be fun but I certainly wouldn't ask for it and expect it to happen."

But if an emergency arose and the Reds needed a catcher, Elmore would step right up.

"I haven't played it since high school, other than that one game with Houston, but I love catching," he says. "You are always right in the middle of the game, every play. It is the most fun of any position. And I think I'm still pretty serviceable at catcher."

With the Reds, Elmore is carrying an outfield glove, two infield gloves and says, "I don't carry all that catching stuff. This organization hasn't made it a priority. But when I was with the Astros they were really clear. They said, 'We have only two catchers and if somebody goes down you're in there.'"

The Reds are well-fixed at catcher for now with Devin Mesoraco, Brayan Pena and Tucker Barnhart, but Elmore is lurking in the background ready to strap it on.