Greg Jones (shortstop)

Gregory Jones Jr. (born March 7, 1998) is an American professional baseball shortstop in the Tampa Bay Rays organization.

Greg Jones
Tampa Bay Rays
Shortstop
Born: (1998-03-07) March 7, 1998
Cary, North Carolina
Bats: Switch
Throws: Right

Amateur career

Jones attended Cary High School in Cary, North Carolina. As a senior, he batted .429 with 18 stolen bases.[1] He was selected by the Baltimore Orioles in the 17th round of the 2017 Major League Baseball draft,[2] but did not sign and instead chose to attend the University of North Carolina at Wilmington where he played college baseball.[2]

In 2018, as a freshman at UNC Wilmington, Jones played and started sixty games, batting .278 with four home runs 21 RBIs, and 16 stolen bases.[3] He played collegiate summer baseball for the Chatham Anglers of the Cape Cod Baseball League after the season, hitting .242 in 132 at-bats.[4][5] In 2019, his sophomore year, he hit .341 with five home runs, 36 RBIs, and 42 stolen bases in 63 games,[6] and was named the Colonial Athletic Association Player of the Year.[7]

Professional career

Jones was selected by the Tampa Bay Rays in the first round with the 22nd overall selection of the 2019 Major League Baseball draft.[8][9] He signed with the Rays for $3 million.[10]

Jones made his professional debut with the Hudson Valley Renegades of the Class A Short Season New York–Penn League.[11] Over 48 games, he slashed .335/.413/.461 with one home run, 24 RBIs, and 19 stolen bases.[12] Jones did not play a minor league game in 2020 due to the cancellation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.[13] He began the 2021 season with the Bowling Green Hot Rods of the High-A East and was promoted to the Montgomery Biscuits of the Double-A South in August.[14] He missed time during the season due to a quadriceps injury.[15] Over 72 games between the two clubs, he slashed .270/.366/.482 with 14 home runs, forty RBIs, and 34 stolen bases.[16]

References
  1. "N&O All-Metro baseball team and final top 25 rankings – 2017 | News & Observer". Archived from the original on 2017-06-29.
  2. "MLB Draft 2017 Day 3: Where North Carolina baseball players end up in Rounds 11-40 | News & Observer". Archived from the original on 2017-06-17.
  3. Staff, Alex Riley StarNews. "UNCW's Jones remains a reluctant superstar". Wilmington Star News.
  4. "Greg Jones is an intriguing draft-eligible sophomore". The 3rd Man In. February 21, 2019.
  5. "#2 Greg Jones - Profile". pointstreak.com. Retrieved January 9, 2020.
  6. "Fiers goes 6, Olson and Davis homer as A's beat Rays 4-3". ABC7 San Francisco. June 12, 2019.
  7. Staff, Joey Chandler StarNews. "UNCW shortstop Greg Jones named CAA Player of the Year". Wilmington Star News.
  8. Chandler, Austin. "Seahawk Spectacular: Greg Jones enters draft-eligible sophomore year".
  9. Smist, John. "UNCW's Greg Jones selected by Tampa Bay in first round of MLB draft". www.wect.com.
  10. "Rays sign top pick Greg Jones for slot-value $3,027,000". Tampa Bay Times.
  11. "Top draftees, prospects begin short-season play". MLB.com.
  12. Greg Jones powers Renegades in NYPL opener | MiLB.com
  13. "2020 Minor League Baseball season canceled". MLB.com.
  14. "Rays' Greg Jones: Receives promotion to Double-A - CBSSports.com".
  15. "Rays' Greg Jones: Could be out two-plus months - CBSSports.com".
  16. "Rays prospects and minor leagues: Wrapping up the season - DRaysBay". 12 October 2021.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.