Jones is the 118th former Northwoods League Player to debut in MLB
Rochester, MN – Former Waterloo Buck James Jones made his Major League debut for the Seattle Mariners on Friday, April18. Jones is the 118th former Northwoods League player to reach the Major League level.
Jones, who played collegiately at Long Island University, played for the Waterloo Bucks during the 2008 season, and was drafted by the Seattle Mariners in the 4th round of the 2009 MLB draft.
While with the Bucks, Jones was a two-way player, seeing action on both the mound and in the outfield for the team and was named the Waterloo Bucks Player of the Year in 2008. Jones finished the ’08 Northwoods League season with a 5-2 record, 2.45 ERA, and 58 strikeouts. At the plate, Jones hit .296 with eight doubles and 15 RBI. For his efforts, Jones was honored as one of Baseball America’s Top 10 MLB prospects in the NWL.
Jones began his minor league career in 2009 with Everett in the Northwest League. Over 45 games with the AquaSox he hit .311 with three home runs, two triples and 12 doubles.
In 2010 Jones spent the entire season in the Lo A Midwest League with the Clinton Lumber Kings. Over 132 games Jones hit .269 with 12 home runs, 65 RBI and 24 stolen bases.
The 2011 season saw Jones begin and end the year with Hi A High Desert in the California League. Over 83 games with the Mavericks, Jones stole 16 bases and hit five home runs while compiling a .247 batting average.
In 2012 Jones once again was in High Desert for the entire season. In 126 games he hit .306 with 14 home runs, 76 RBI and stole 26 bases.
The 2013 season started with Jones at AA with the Jackson Generals of the Southern League. Over 101 games before being promoted to AAA with the Tacoma Rainiers he hit .275 with six home runs, 10 triples, 14 doubles and 28 stolen bases. He only played in four games with Tacoma but he had five hits in 15 at bats with two of those hits being doubles.
Before being promoted to the Seattle Mariners on Wednesday, April 16, Jones had played in 11 games for Tacoma where he was hitting .310 over 42 at bats.
In his Major League debut versus the Miami Marlins, Jones entered the game playing right field as a defensive substitution in the 7th inning. With two outs in the top of the 8th inning Jones came to the plate and singled for his first Major League hit off of Marlins reliever A.J. Ramos.
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The Northwoods League is the proven leader in the development of elite college baseball players. The 20-year old summer collegiate league is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 18 teams, drawing significantly more fans, in a friendly ballpark experience, than any league of its kind. A valuable training ground for coaches, umpires and front office staff, more than 115 Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (DET) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (CWS), Jordan Zimmermann (WAS), Curtis Granderson (NYM), Allen Craig (STL) and Ben Zobrist (TB). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League YouTube channel. For more information, visit www.northwoodsleague.com.