Jonathan D. Jones (born August 2, 1989) is an American former

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to cat ...

who played internationally for the Mexico national baseball team at the

2020 Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...

Amateur career

Jones graduated from

Vanden High School Vanden High School is a high school in Fairfield, California. It is in the Travis Unified School District and serves children from southern Vacaville, eastern Fairfield, and Travis Air Force Base. This school serves grades 9-12. The mascot of VH ...

in Fairfield, California, in 2007. He attended

California State University, Long Beach California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) is a public research university in Long Beach, California. The 322-acre campus is the second largest of the 23-school California State University system (CSU) and one of the largest universities i ...

, where he played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

for the Long Beach State Dirtbags. In 2009, he played

collegiate summer baseball Collegiate summer baseball leagues are amateur baseball leagues in the United States and Canada featuring players who have attended at least one year of college and have at least one year of athletic eligibility remaining. Generally, they operat ...

with the Yarmouth–Dennis Red Sox of the

Cape Cod Baseball League The Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL or Cape League) is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league located on Cape Cod in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. One of the nation's premier collegiate summer leagues, the league boasts over one thousan ...

Professional career

Toronto Blue Jays

Jones was drafted by the

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since 1989, the team has played its home games ...

in the 29th round, with the 876th overall selection, of the

2010 MLB draft The 2010 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft was held on June 7–9, 2010 at the MLB Network Studios in Secaucus, New Jersey. First-round selections The draft order was determined based on the 2009 MLB standings, with the worst team pic ...

. He made his professional debut in 2010 with the

Gulf Coast Blue Jays The Florida Complex League Blue Jays are a Rookie-level affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays, competing in the Florida Complex League of Minor League Baseball. Prior to 2021, the team was known as the Gulf Coast League Blue Jays. The team plays it ...

, and was later promoted to Low–A Auburn Doubledays. In 2011, Jones split the season between the Low–A Vancouver Canadians and Single–A Lansing Lugnuts, posting a combined .288/.366/.360

line Line most often refers to: * Line (geometry), object with zero thickness and curvature that stretches to infinity * Telephone line, a single-user circuit on a telephone communication system Line, lines, The Line, or LINE may also refer to: Arts ...

with 2 home runs and 41 RBIs. He was promoted in 2012 to the High-A

Dunedin Blue Jays The Dunedin Blue Jays are a Minor League Baseball team of the Florida State League and are the Single-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays Major League Baseball club. They are located in Dunedin, Florida, and play their home games at TD Ballpark, ...

, batting .266 with 28 RBIs and 25 stolen bases. Following the 2012 season, he played winter ball with the Canberra Cavalry of the Australian Baseball League. Jones appeared in 8 games for the Cavalry before a hamstring injury ended his season prematurely. In 2013, Jones began the season in Dunedin, spending the year there aside from a short stint with the Double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats. In 2014, López was promoted to the Fisher Cats, where he slashed .233/.302/.314 with 1 home run and 14 RBIs in 56 games. On September 30, 2014, Jones was released by the organization. On October 8, 2014, Jones signed a minor league contract with the

Miami Marlins The Miami Marlins are an American professional baseball team based in Miami. The Marlins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The club's home ballpark is LoanDepot Park. The franc ...

organization. He was released prior to the season on March 31, 2015.

Gary SouthShore RailCats

Jones signed with the

Gary SouthShore RailCats The Gary SouthShore RailCats are a professional baseball team based in Gary, Indiana, in the United States. The RailCats are members of the American Association of Professional Baseball, an official Partner League of Major League Baseball. The Rai ...

of the American Association of Independent Professional Baseball for the 2015 season. He hit a team-leading .314, tied for the team lead in home runs (5), and was second on the club with 40 RBIs.

New Britain Bees

On March 28, 2016, Jones was traded to the

New Britain Bees The New Britain Bees are an American collegiate summer baseball team based in New Britain, Connecticut. They are a member of the Futures Collegiate Baseball League (FCBL), a wood-bat league with teams in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connectic ...

of the

Atlantic League of Professional Baseball The Atlantic League of Professional Baseball (ALPB) is a professional independent baseball league based in the United States. It is an official MLB Partner League based in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern United States. The Atlantic League's ...

for future considerations. In 72 games, he slashed .269/.307/.405 with 5 home runs, 33 RBIs, and 24 stolen bases. He became a free agent following the season.

Vaqueros Unión Laguna/Algodoneros de Unión Laguna

On June 15, 2017, Jones signed with the Vaqueros Unión Laguna of the Mexican League. In 72 games with the club, he slashed .245/.342/.412 with 8 home runs and 37 RBIs. He returned to the team, re-named the Algodoneros de Unión Laguna, for first half of the 2018 season.

Leones de Yucatán

On July 26, 2018, Jones was traded to the Leones de Yucatán of the Mexican League. He played in 29 games with the Leones to finish out the year, batting .222/.316/.394 with 2 home runs and 14 RBIs. Jones later stayed in Mexico to play for the

Cañeros de Los Mochis The Cañeros de Los Mochis ( en, Los Mochis Sugar Cane Growers) are a Mexican baseball team in the Liga Mexicana del Pacífico. They play in Los Mochis in the state of Sinaloa Sinaloa (), officially the Estado Libre y Soberano de Sinaloa ( en, ...

of the

Mexican Pacific League The Mexican Pacific League (), known as Liga ARCO Mexicana del Pacífico for sponsorship reasons or simply LMP for its acronym in Spanish, is a professional baseball winter league based in Northern Mexico. The ten-team regular season schedule run ...

. In 2019, Jones returned to Yucatán, setting career highs in hits (138), RBIs (55), and stolen bases (31) across 97 games played. He re-signed in 2020, but the season was later canceled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. Jones again re-signed with the Leones for the 2021 season. Appearing in just 18 games as a result of injuries and his Team Mexico commitments, he slashed .217/.294/.300 with 1 home run and 5 RBIs. On November 3, 2021, Jones announced his retirement from professional baseball.

International career

In 2019, Jones was selected to Team Mexico at the

2019 WBSC Premier12 The 2019 WBSC Premier12 was an international baseball championship featuring the 12 highest-ranked national teams in the world, held by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC). It was the second WBSC Premier12 event. The championship ...

competition. He is African-American, but of Mexican heritage on his mother's side and therefore eligible to represent Mexico. Playing in 8 games, Jones batted .385 (5th-best) and hit 3 home runs (tied for 1st). He was the only player from Team Mexico to be named to the All-World Team. Mexico finished the tournament with a victory in the bronze medal game over the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, thereby qualifying for the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

Jones would be selected to the final roster for the Mexico national baseball team at the

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Jonathan Living people 1989 births Sportspeople from Fairfield, California Baseball outfielders Long Beach State Dirtbags baseball players Yarmouth–Dennis Red Sox players Gulf Coast Blue Jays players Auburn Doubledays players Lansing Lugnuts players Vancouver Canadians players Dunedin Blue Jays players New Hampshire Fisher Cats players Canberra Cavalry players Gary SouthShore RailCats players New Britain Bees players Vaqueros Unión Laguna players Algodoneros de Unión Laguna players Leones de Yucatán players Cañeros de Los Mochis players 2019 WBSC Premier12 players American expatriate baseball players in Canada American expatriate baseball players in Mexico African-American baseball players American baseball players of Mexican descent Baseball players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Vacaville, California Baseball players from Solano County, California Olympic baseball players for Mexico 21st-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American sportspeople