Jon Jones

Jonathan D. Jones

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 11", Weight 185 lb.

• School Cal State Long Beach
• High School Vanden High School

• Born August 2, 1989 in Vacaville, CA USA

BR register page

Biographical Information

Jonathan Jones has played as high as AAA and for the Mexican national team. Interestingly, his cousin, Alex Crosby (a fellow Californian) played for the British national team the same year Jones suited up for Mexico. His uncle Desmond Howard won the Heisman Trophy and played in the NFL.

Jones hit .446 as a high school sophomore, .316 as a junior and .437 as a senior. He batted .343/.429/.408 as a college freshman, scoring 38 runs in 45 games. He slipped a bit to .307/.382/.375 as a sophomore, stealing 15 bases in 19 tries though and scoring 40 times in 47 contests. Despite missing time with a concussion, he led the team in runs. He produced at a .318/.371/.480 clip as a junior with 16 doubles.

The Toronto Blue Jays took him in the 29th round of the 2010 amateur draft; the scout was Chris Becerra. He spent most of the summer with the Auburn Doubledays (.237/.362/.304 in 52 G, 35 R) and was 0 for 6 with a walk for the GCL Blue Jays. In 2011, he moved up to the Lansing Lugnuts (.298/.385/.371 in 35 G) and Vancouver Canadians (.283/.356/.354 in 64 G). He stole 28 bases in 36 tries that summer. He was 6th in the Jays chain in steals, between Brad McElroy and Ivan Contreras. He tied Lee Orr for 6th in the Northwest League with 18 swipes.

In 2012, he hit .266/.356/.322 for the Dunedin Blue Jays. Despite being a part-timer, he managed 25 steals while only being nabbed four times. He tied Arismendy Alcantara for 6th in the Florida State League in steals and tied D.J. Davis for 5th in the Jays system. He batted .258/.281/.355 for the Canberra Cavalry in the 2012-2013 Australian Baseball League. He struggled in 2013 with the New Hampshire Fisher Cats (2 for 13, 2 BB) and Dunedin (.227/.299/.299 in 28 G). In 2014, he hit .233/.302/.314 as a backup for New Hampshire to end his time in the Jays chain.

Moving to the independent leagues, he batted .314/.372/.484 for the 2015 Gary SouthShore RailCats with 8 triples and 19 steals in 22 tries. He handled 177 chances in the outfield error-free. He tied Matt Forgatch and Logan Vick for 2nd in the American Association in three-baggers. He split 2016 between the New Britain Bees (.269/.307/.405, 24 SB, 3 CS in 72 G) and Vaqueros Laguna (.284/.400/.493, 15 R in 22 G). He nearly made the Atlantic League top 10 in swipes, one behind #10 Trayvon Robinson, despite a partial season there.

In '17, he fell to .245/.342/.412 for Laguna and only stole 7 bases in 13 tries in an uncharacteristic turn. He opened 2018 with the Algodoneros de Union Laguna, hitting .364/.427/.591 in the spring campaign as Mexico went to a two-season format for the year. He tied Christian Zazueta for 6th in steals (14 SB, 2 CS). He split the fall season between Union Laguna (.373/.442/.507 in 19 G) and the Leones de Yucatan (.222/.316/.394), stealing 15 bases in 17 attempts. He was 5th in swipes. In the winter, he played for the Caneros de Los Mochis and hit .192/.293/.298.

Jones was a superb two-way threat for the 2019 Leones: .353/.425/.519, 86 R in 97 G, 31 SB, 9 CS on offense; in the field, he had 192 putouts, 3 assists and no errors. He tied Francisco Ferreiro for 3rd in the Mexican League with seven triples and he tied Jay Austin for 3rd in stolen bases. He was then chosen for Mexico's team for the 2019 Premier 12; he was not the only Californian on the squad, which included Matt Clark, Phillip Evans, Brennan Bernardino, Horacio Ramirez, Ryan Verdugo and Efren Navarro, all of whom had qualified for the team (Clark, for instance, has a Mexican mother). Hitting leadoff, he batted .367/.424/.700 with 9 runs, 3 homers and 6 RBI in 8 games including a first-pitch homer off Josh Guyer that was the winning hit against Australia. His homer against Shota Imanaga was both Mexico's lone run and only hit in a loss to Japan and he also hit a two-run shot off Jong-hun Park of South Korea. Down 1-0 in the 6th inning of the Bronze Medal Game (with the winner getting a spot in the 2020 Olympics), he started a comeback against Team USA. He singled off Daniel Tillo and scored the tying run on a Clark single. In the bottom of the 10th, with the game tied 2-2, he laid down a sacrifice bunt on an 0-2 count against Brandon Dickson to set up Navarro's winning hit. He led the event in runs (tied with MVP Seiya Suzuki), was 3rd in hits (after Jo Adell and Suzuki), tied for first in homers (with Adell, Suzuki, Clark and Brent Rooker), tied for 3rd in RBI (behind Suzuki and Bobby Dalbec), was 3rd with 21 total bases (behind Suzuki and Adell) and was 5th in slugging among players with 10+ AB (between Erik Kratz and Adell). He made the tournament All-Star team in the outfield alongside Suzuki and Jung-hoo Lee.