Garrett Jones

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Garrett Thomas Jones

Bats Left, Throws Left
Height 6' 4", Weight 225 lb.

High School Andrew (IL) High School
Debut May 15, 2007

Born June 21, 1981 in Harvey, IL USA

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[edit] Biographical Information

" . . . the 28-year-old Jones is batting .313/.365/.833 with seven homers and a 214 OPS+ in 52 plate appearances . . ." - from an article at Dugout Central about Jones' fast start after coming up from Indianapolis in 2009

First baseman/outfielder Garrett Jones has played in the majors in 2007 and 2009. A minor league slugger, he has hit over 150 minor league home runs and topped 20 homers in his first extended stint in the majors, een though he spent almost half of the season in the minor leagues.

Jones was selected by the Atlanta Braves in the 14th round of the 1999 amateur draft and made his pro debut that summer with the GCL Braves. After three seasons in the Braves' farm system, he was released and signed with the Minnesota Twins organization. With the Quad Cities River Bandits in 2002, he hit 10 home runs, 4 of which came in a game against the Kane County Cougars on July 14th. The next year, with the Fort Myers Miracle, he hit 18 homers to finish fourth in the Florida State League.

After starting 2004 back with Fort Myers, Jones was promoted to the AA New Britain Rock Cats in late April and went on to lead the team in homers (30) and RBI (92), while tying for the club lead in batting (.311). He spent most of the next four seasons with the AAA Rochester Red Wings, earning several cups of coffee in the majors with the Twins in 2007. He earned his first major league hit in his first big league appearance, on May 15th against the Cleveland Indians, and went 3 for 3 against the Kansas City Royals on September 2nd. Overall, he hit .208 with a pair of home runs and 5 RBIs in 31 games in the majors that year.

Following the 2008 season, Jones was signed by the Pittsburgh Pirates organization, and he began 2009 with the AAA Indianapolis Indians. Called up in late June, he first played right field, then was the Pirates' regular first baseman after Adam LaRoche was dealt just before the trading deadline. Jones became the oldest rookie to hit 20 home runs since Bobby Darwin in 1972. He became the second player ever to hit 20 homers in MLB without hitting one before July; Kevin Maas had been the first. His 21 home runs were not his only solid statistic in what was a great overall season, however: he batted .293. drew 40 walks for a .372 on-base percentage and added 21 doubles to slug .567. He even added 10 stolen bases while being caught only twice.