Adam LaMarque Jones is an American professional baseball center fielder
with the Baltimore Orioles of Major League Baseball. He was drafted in the
first round of the 2003 draft by the Seattle Mariners. He came up in the
Mariners' minor league system as a shortstop before transitioning to the
outfield and being traded to the Orioles before the 2008 season.
Biography = Early life =
Jones was born in San Diego, California on August 1, 1985, the son of Andrea,
who raised Jones and his older brother alone until he was five. While growing
up in Southeast San Diego, Jones excelled at both football and basketball
and did not pick up a baseball bat until he was twelve. In 1997 his stepfather,
Kenneth, took him to a Padres game after which he started to gain an interest in
the sport. He picked up the sport very quickly and went on to star on his high
school team. Jones graduated from Morse High School in 2003 after leading his
high school team as both a pitcher and a shortstop. During his senior season he
batted .406, hit four home runs and batted in 27 runs. On the mound, Jones
posted a record of three wins and three losses, while posting a 2.71 ERA.
Professional career = Seattle Mariners =
He was originally selected by the Seattle Mariners with the 37th pick in
the first round of the 2003 MLB Draft as a shortstop/right-handed pitcher. Most
experts believed Seattle wanted to use him as a pitcher, but Jones said he
would prefer to play every day and was made the shortstop of the Mariners'
rookie league affiliate. A few years later when the Mariners acquired
Yuniesky Betancourt, they asked Jones if he would move to the outfield and he
agreed. 2006–07
Jones' career in the majors began when he was called up to the Mariners from
the Tacoma Rainiers on July 14, 2006. He replaced corner outfielder Shin-Soo Choo
whose attempt to fill in for injured starting center fielder Jeremy Reed was
less than successful. Jones made his major-league debut that night, going 0
for 3 with a fourth-inning walk in a 5–3 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays at
Rogers Centre. After going hitless in his first twelve at bats, he got his
first major league hit when he singled off Sidney Ponson in the seventh of an
11-inning 5–4 defeat to the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium four nights
later on July 18. Jones hit his first home run in the majors off Adam Eaton in
the third inning of an 8–2 loss to the Texas Rangers at Ameriquest Field in
Arlington on August 10, 2006. On August 3, 2007, Jones returned to the
majors for the first time on the season, starting in right field against the Red
Sox. He went 2 for 4 and scored the go-ahead run in the 7–4 victory.
= Baltimore Orioles = On February 8, 2008, Jones was traded to
the Baltimore Orioles along with left-handed reliever George Sherrill and
minor league pitchers Kam Mickolio, Chris Tillman, and Tony Butler for the
left-handed starting pitcher Érik Bédard.
2008 On July 28, 2008, Jones became the
second player ever to hit a triple and a grand slam in the same game as a visitor
to Yankee Stadium. On September 21, 2008, Jones hit the final triple at
Yankee Stadium in the second inning off Andy Pettitte and later scored the first
run of the game. Jones finished his first season with the
Orioles batting .270 to go along with 9 home runs, 57 RBI and 10 stolen bases.
He ranked 11th in the major leagues with 7 triples.
2009 After a strong start to the season,
Jones was selected to represent Baltimore in the 2009 All Star Game on
July 5. In the game, he drove in Curtis Granderson on a sacrifice fly for the
winning run in the American League's 4–3 victory.
The second half wasn't as kind to Jones though and in August, he sprained his
left ankle and missed the end of the 2009 season. He finished the season with
a .277 batting average, 19 homers, 70 RBI and 10 stolen bases. He tied for 5th
among major league center fielders with 9 outfield assists.
In November, he was awarded a Gold Glove for his defensive play.
2010 Jones finished his third season in
Baltimore with a .284 batting average, 19 homers, 69 RBI and 7 stolen bases. He
led all center fielders and was second in the majors in outfield assists with
12. 2011
As of August, Jones was having the best statistical season of his career. On
August 6, in a game against the Toronto Blue Jays, he hit his then career high
20th home run of the season. In 2011, Jones led the major leagues in
sacrifice flies, with 12, and led all AL outfielders in errors, with 8.
2012 Jones started the 2012 season hitting
.310 with 14 home runs and 31 runs batted in through the Orioles' first 46
games. His stellar play led to the Orioles signing him to a contract
extension for six years that is worth $85.5 million. Escalators could raise
that total to $91.5 million over the same period. The contract surpassed the
previous contracts of Miguel Tejada and Nick Markakis as the largest in Orioles'
history and makes Jones the second highest paid center fielder in Major
League Baseball, behind the Dodgers' Matt Kemp. Jones hit the second walk-off
home run of his career on June 9, a two-run home run in the bottom of the
12th inning that resulted in a 6-4 victory for the Orioles over the
Philadelphia Phillies. On July 1, Jones was selected to be one
of the Orioles representatives in the 2012 All Star Game.
Jones hit the 100th home run of his career on August 28 against the Chicago
White Sox. Two days later, he established a new career high by hitting
his 26th home run of the season, also against the White Sox. He finished the
regular season with 32 home runs. On September 30, 2012, Jones was named
the Most Valuable Oriole for the second consecutive season. The Orioles made the
playoffs as a Wildcard against Texas Rangers. Jones hit a sac fly to score a
run in the Orioles 5-1 win. 2013
Prior to the start of the 2013 season, Jones was selected by the United States
national baseball team to participate in the 2013 World Baseball Classic. He
appeared in his second All-Star game, his first as a starter.
On August 11, 2013, Adam Jones reached a career-high 85 RBIs.
On September 5, 2013, Jones reached 100 RBIs for the first time, when he
connected for a home run off of Jose Quintana.
Jones finished a strong 2013 season batting .285 with 33 home runs and 108
RBIs, both of which were new career highs. He did, however, draw only 25
walks and finished with a .318 on-base percentage, his lowest since 2008.
After the Baltimore Orioles failed to make the 2013 playoffs, Jones decided to
join MLB Network as an extra analyst for the duration of the postseason.
2014 On April 13, Jones recorded his 1,000
career hit off Mark Buehrle in a game versus the Toronto Blue Jays. In a game
against the Houston Astros at Camden Yards on May 11, 2014, he singled with
the bases loaded and drove in his 500th and 501st RBIs. Jones participated in
the 2014 MLB All-Star Game. After the season ended, he travelled to Japan to
join a team of MLB All-Stars playing against All-Stars of Nippon Professional
Baseball in the 2014 Major League Baseball Japan All-Star Series.
2015 In 2015, Jones was elected to his fifth
All-Star Game, his fourth in a row. He was originally voted in as a reserve,
however, an injury to Kansas City Royals outfielder Alex Gordon allowed Jones to
replace Gordon as a starting outfielder. During the Orioles final game before the
All-Star break, Jones hit two homeruns in a game against the Washington
Nationals, raising his career total with the Orioles to 180. His second homerun
moved him into eighth on the Orioles all-time homeruns list, and it was his
seventh career multi-homerun game. On July 30, Jones hit the 182nd homerun of
his Orioles career, which tied him for seventh on the teams all-time list with
Ken Singleton. The very next night, Jones hit a three-run homerun, giving
him sole possession of seventh place on the all-time Orioles homerun list. It
was also his one hundredth career homerun at OPACY. On August 16, Jones
went 3-for-4 and hit two homeruns in an 18-2 rout of the Oakland Athletics. It
was Jones' eighth career multi-homerun game.
Personal life On May 29, 2010, Jones was mistakenly
detained at the Canadian border while he was trying to get to Toronto. He
believed it was a case of mistaken identity; however, he would not disclose
whether he was mistaken for Cincinnati Bengals cornerback Adam "Pacman" Jones,
who has had numerous brushes with the law.
On August 11, 2013, at a game at AT&T Park in San Francisco, a fan threw a
banana towards him in the outfield, Jones reported via Twitter. It was later
revealed that the fan threw the banana in disgust at the performance of the
Giants in a 10-2 loss to the Orioles and was not intended as an insult toward
Adam Jones. Jones married Audie Fugett, the only
daughter of Jean Fugett, in late-December 2014. They had their first
son, August, in March 2014. References
External links Career statistics and player information
from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The
Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference