Working on Wehunt Farms

The sun begins to rise over the horizon on a hot late-summer morning in Carnesville, Georgia. A rooster crows off in the distance but suddenly the rooster crow turns into an alarm clock going off. A young Blake Wehunt rolls out of bed and shuts the alarm off. It’s time to start the day. But unlike any other normal high schooler, Wehunt doesn’t just roll out of bed an hour or so before school starts. Instead, he gets up and starts his day at the crack of dawn, helping his father clean the various chicken coops.

“Each day was different, some days I would have to help him pick up eggs, pickup chickens, or weed eat around the chicken house, cutting grass etc.” Wehunt explained.

It's not a glamorous start to the day, but Wehunt knows that he must pitch in and contribute. Tending to the chickens, feeding them, catching them, and grabbing the eggs are all some of the many responsibilities the Sea Dogs starting pitcher had to handle when he was younger. While all his peers would be out at the pool having an ordinary summer, Wehunt would still be working around the farm. However, he realized that in the long run, the hard work he put in now would pay dividends not just for his family or the farm, but for himself as well.

“Summer break from school wasn’t really summer break without having to help my dad around the farm.” Wehunt exclaimed. “But I think it helped me realize what hard work meant. It helped me understand where I come from and what my dad does and how hard he works.

It seems like he is thankful for the long summers of chicken farming and believes it’s what instilled his impeccable work ethic into him.

“I think it was a good thing for me to learn early what hard work is,” Wehunt said.

Nowadays Wehunt can sleep in more and instead of rolling out of bed and grabbing a shovel to go clean a coop, he reaches for a baseball glove that has the words “Chicken Farmer” etched into the side of his glove. It’s an identity that Wehunt wears with a badge of honor. The name itself ties back to his time on the farm with his father, but the actual identity wasn’t embodied until he was with the Greenville Drive.

“Word got around to the whole organization that I was a chicken farmer, then the next thing I know, Greenville Drive post a lineup on Instagram and they’re like on the mound is the chicken farmer.” Wehunt explained in an interview on the Pesky Podcast. “Ever since then it kinda just expanded…every time I pitch it’s chicken farmer takes the mound again or chicken farmers’ on the mound tonight, so I just got used to it.”

Wehunt’s gotten more than just used to it. In fact, he’s leaned into the jokes by making merchandise mostly t-shirts, that have a chicken with thumbs up on it that says “Wehunt Farms” on the back.

The series of t-shirts started during Wehunt’s time in college. It was mostly a family thing of getting the t-shirts made but once his college teammates laid their eyes on the shirts, they knew they had to have one.

“All my buddies at both the colleges I went to were like hey man we want one of those shirts. So my dad started making more for the team and it’s gotten to the point where everywhere I go somebody asks me about it.” Wehunt explained. “Not many people up here own chicken farms or come from chicken farms so if people can be rocking that, then it not only supports me but it supports my family and how I grew up.”

Pitchers in professional baseball are constantly making minor tweaks to their delivery, honing their mechanics day in and day out, or sometimes adding a new pitch to the arsenal. It takes a lot of hard work. Some people think of pitching like cooking. You need to have the right ingredients to be successful and in this example a pitcher’s repertoire are the ingredients. All of the pitches Wehunt now throws on a consistent basis took hard work to develop especially his curveball.

“The last couple of weeks of the season (2024) I was really trying to hone in on getting that to where I wanted it.” Wehunt said. “So next year I’ll have that down…hopefully.”

It’s been a roller coaster 2025 campaign for Wehunt. After he racked up a career-high 13 strikeouts in Somerset on June 14. The 6’7 right-hander made one more start before going on the injured list until August 6 with a lat strain. Now back from his injury, “the chicken farmer” is looking to once again get back on track and finish out the season on a high note.