Published On: July 24th, 2009

Everett, Washington – HeraldNet
Published: Thursday, July 23, 2009

Photo Credit: Mark Mulligan / The Herald

James Jones swings an ‘impact bat’ for the Everett AquaSox

Most MLB teams considered James Jones a pitcher, but the Seattle Mariners drafted him not for his pitching skills, but for his hitting prowess and sent him to Everett where he spends his time in the outfield and leads the team in batting.

EVERETT — How much speculation was there regarding James Jones’ best path toward the major leagues?

Even the Seattle Mariners, the team that drafted him, were a little fuzzy on what position he played.

Although drafted as an outfielder, the Mariners’ memo notifying the Everett AquaSox that Jones would be joining the team listed Jones as a left-handed pitcher.

“I didn’t know that,” Jones said with a laugh when informed of the gaffe. “That’s kind of funny.”

It was an honest mistake, considering every other major league team had Jones listed on their draft board as a pitcher. However, the Mariners view Jones differently than the masses, and Everett is the first stop for Jones to prove that Seattle was right and the majority was wrong.

Jones, the Mariners’ fourth-round pick in last June’s entry draft and the highest-drafted player currently on Everett’s roster, is a picture athlete. At 6-foot-3 and 190 pounds, he has the type of frame that generates both speed and strength.

Those athletic tools were on full display during his recently-completed junior season at Long Island University. In 47 games, he led the Blackbirds in just about every offensive statistical category, including batting average (.364), home runs (nine) and stolen bases (20).

Meanwhile, his pitching record at LIU was, shall we say, less than stellar. In 12 starts, Jones finished 1-9 with a 7.40 ERA.

Nevertheless, every team that scouted Jones this season, with the exception of the Mariners, saw him as a pitcher.

Why?

The answer is simple. Jones is a left-hander who throws 95 mph, and scouts love their lefties who can bring it.

Jones was also a late bloomer was a pitcher. He exhibited tremendous growth in his fastball between his sophomore and junior seasons, jumping from the high 80s to the mid 90s while pitching last summer for the Waterloo (Iowa) Bucks, a member of the NCAA summer Northwoods League. Therefore, conventional wisdom suggested that, given time to refine his live arm, Jones could eventually be molded into a special pitcher.

So when Seattle selected Jones as an outfielder, a few eyebrows were raised.

“Obviously Tom McNamara (Seattle’s director of amateur scouting who oversees the draft) and the staff thought Jones had the potential to go both ways,” Mariners director of minor-league operations Pedro Grifol said. “But we drafted him as a position player. We think he has high-end ability and that he has the potential to one day be an impact bat in the big leagues.”

One person who wasn’t surprised at Seattle’s decision was Jones, who knew exactly where the Mariners stood.

“I kind of knew people were looking both ways,” Jones said. “The Mariners were the only ones looking at me as a hitter, so I wasn’t surprised.

“I actually like hitting more,” Jones added. “I didn’t get noticed much for pitching until last summer, after the Northwoods League.”

So far in his brief professional career Jones has justified Seattle’s decision. In his first four games with the Sox Jones had seven hits in 16 at bats, good for a .438 batting average. He smashed his first professional home run in Tuesday’s 8-2 loss at Spokane, a line drive that left the yard in a flash.

“He’s got some power in his bat, he’s got a real good swing, and he has an excellent arm,” an impressed Everett manager John Tamargo said. “We just have to let him play.”

And, of course, Jones has the ideal fall back plan should hitting ultimately not work out. If it happened he wouldn’t be the first Mariner prospect to move from the field to the mound. Everett reliever Eddy Hernandez is in his first full season pitching after three-plus years in the Mariners organization as an outfielder. Former Sox pitcher Rafael Soriano was originally an outfielder before going on to be one of the top relief pitchers in the majors.

But neither Jones nor the Mariners are entertaining thoughts of that for the time being.

“Right now I’m putting (pitching) out of my mind,” Jones said. “Right now I’m just an outfielder.”

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