Jesús Tona

Jesús Esteban Tona Rojas

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 10", Weight 170 lb.

• Born March 30, 1996 in Cabudare, Lara Venezuela

BR register page

Biographical Information

Jesús Tona played as high as AAA and was on the Venezuelan national team.

Tona was signed by San Francisco Giants scout Oscar Montero in July 2014. He hit .313/.450/.500 in 28 games for the 2015 DSL Giants, fielded .995 at catcher and threw out half of those who tried to steal. Coming stateside, he hit .148/.179/.222 in 11 games for the '16 AZL Giants. Despite his solid fielding at catcher the prior year, he moved to second base, where he backed up Mike Bernal. He began 2017 with the AZL Giants again, this time back at catcher, going 3 for 11. He was then converted to pitching, allowing two runs (one earned) in 3 1/3 IP.

As a full-time reliever for the 2018 Salem-Keizer Volcanoes, he was 0-1 with 12 saves and a 0.87 ERA, fanning 41 in 31 innings and posting a .81 WHIP. He tied Emmanuel Clase for the Northwest League lead in saves and was second in the Giants chain, behind Frank Rubio. Not bad for a guy in his first season on the hill (or any pitcher)! He split 2019 between the San Jose Giants (1-1, 5.71 in 14 G) and Augusta GreenJackets (2-2, 16 Sv, 1.50, 60 K in 42 IP). He had the most saves of a Giants farmhand, two ahead of Melvin Adon. He also led the South Atlantic League in saves, two ahead of Alexander Martinez.

His rise was halted in 2020 when the minors were shut down by COVID-19. He split 2021 between the ACL Giants Orange (1-0, 1.17 in 7 G), San Jose (1-0, 2 Sv, 3.65 in 10 G), Eugene Emeralds (0 R in 1 IP) and Sacramento River Cats (3 R in 1 IP), battling injuries. His time in the Giants chain over, he pitched for Venezuela when they won Bronze in the 2022 Bolivarian Games. He debuted against host Colombia, relieving Frank López in the 4th with the bases loaded and one out. Luis Castro hit a sacrifice fly then Rafael Romero singled in one run and Jonathan Lozada doubled two more. Diover Ávila flew out. Gilmael Troya took over for him. He was back to work the next day, relieving Angel Leon in the 6th with one out and a 10-2 deficit against Gold Medal-bound the Dominican Republic. He allowed a Stanley Javier homer and got one strike on the next batter before Troya succeeded him. He tied Marcos Frias for the second-highest ERA in the Games (Alex Takano was higher). His .750 average allowed was the highest, .083 worse than Takano.