RSN: So, who is Mike Jones? Red Sox Nation knows very little about you.
MJ: I pretty much started playing baseball in high school. I was always more of a basketball guy. I was pretty good, but I really didn’t have the size for it, so I played baseball. My senior year, I got a scholarship offer to go to Arizona Western, and I took it. That’s where it began. That’s where I seriously started getting into baseball, my first time just playing baseball.
RSN: You were drafted after your first year of junior college, and then played your second year there as a draft-and-follow. Can you tell us about that experience?
MJ: I got drafted after my first year then went back because they wanted to follow my progress. After I got drafted, I played summer ball in the Clark Griffith League in Baltimore. That was my first time with hitting coaches and just playing baseball all the time. That’s what really laid the foundation for my baseball career.
RSN: When did you know that you’d be signing with the Red Sox?.
MJ: [The Red Sox] said they’d follow my progress during the summer, and that they’d talk to me when it was over. But they didn’t really talk to me, so I thought I was going back to school. It was pretty late, in August or so. I just figured I’d go back to school and they’d follow my progress and hopefully we’d work something out. I played my whole season and it happened to go my way, so they signed me. Summer ball helped me a lot.
RSN: Was Clark Griffith a wood bat league?
MJ: Yes. My junior college was also wood bat. I played in high school with an aluminum bat, but I love the wood bat better because, basically, with an aluminum bat, everybody’s a power hitter. With a wood bat, you really have to hit the ball for it to go. I’m a pretty big guy, a power guy, so it helped me a lot.
RSN: Mike Hazen, the Red Sox director of player development, said your raw power is exceptional, but that you’re also a very disciplined hitter. Would you say that’s accurate?
MJ: Yeah, I usually just wait for my pitch to hit. I don’t like to swing at balls. I was taught to be patient, and I’m real quiet at the plate.
RSN: What is your pitch?
MJ: Pretty much middle, in. That’s where I have the most power. But I’m learning to hit the ball away because I don’t get pitched in too much. Before this year, I never hit a home run to the opposite field, even in batting practice, but this year I’ve hit balls out to left field, center field, right field, so I’m using the whole field a lot better now.
RSN: What have the Red Sox said to you regarding your development plan? What were some of the things you were supposed to work on this year?
MJ: My conditioning. I lost about 20-25 pounds coming into spring training last year. I’m about 240-245 right now. I came in after signing at about 265 with 20 percent body fat. Now I’ve dropped 20-25 pounds and about 5 percent body fat. That’s a lot.
RSN: You repeated the GCL this season. Was that because of your lack of baseball experience.
MJ: I think it’s because of my experience, but I also recently moved to first base. I got drafted as an outfielder. So, to work on first base, work on fundamentals, I believe.
RSN: Were you asked to work on anything specifically?
MJ: They really didn’t have me get into anything specific, but, my hitting coach, U.L. Washington, I worked with him almost everyday, all day. He’s pretty much my best friend. He played in the big leagues, and he’s a real good guy. He pushed me the most. Last year in the GCL, I didn’t hit that well. I hit .306, but didn’t hit for a lot of power. He basically brought the power out in me, showed me how to hit like a big man.
RSN: How did he do that, exactly?
MJ: He changed my approach. Before, I would go in and try to punch the ball up the middle. I wouldn’t swing hard -- I wouldn’t look for my pitch. I was pretty much just happy with a hit. This year, I went looking to drive the ball more. I got my base set, so it helped me a lot. U.L. said, “You have as much power [to the opposite field] as you do here, you can hit that ball out, too.” I was also too patient at first. I became more aggressive, and that helped me a lot, swinging the bat more.
RSN: When you say you got your “base set,” what do you mean?
MJ: My foundation, getting my legs to relax when I hit. I sat down more, I crouched more, and it helped my power and it helped me stay consistent.
RSN: How has the transition to first base been for you?
MJ: I actually like it better than the outfield because you’re more involved in the game. There’s more to do. But it’s not as easy as most people think is. They think you stick the most un-athletic guy at first base, but the ball is coming at you every play, so you have to be pretty good with the ball. I like it a lot. Again, U.L. Washington -- he had me working on it every day.
RSN: It sounds like U.L. was your personal coach.
MJ: Pretty much. I stayed with him all day. It was a fun time working with him on and off the field. He’d get on me a lot. If I didn’t get it right, he wouldn’t be afraid to let me hear it. But it was also positive, so it never got me down or anything. A lot of guys would call him my father because I was always with him. Going to games, I’m sitting with him. Eating, I’m sitting with him. I just soaked in all his experience. He was probably my best friend down there.
RSN: So, what’s it been like the last few days? You helped your team win the GCL title by hitting over .700 for the series. The next day you debuted with the Spinners at Fenway Park.
MJ: I’m floating on air right now. The last two weeks of the season, I really picked it up. I hit maybe seven home runs in the last two weeks. It finally clicked. Baseball is a funny sport. You go the whole season hitting two home runs, and then something will click and you go on a tear, and that’s what happened. It happened at the right time. I’m just happy to be out of rookie ball, to tell you the truth.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Jones hit five home runs over the course of three games in the last week of the GCL regular season, including two multi-homer games.
RSN: At 21, some might consider you too old for the GCL, though you’re the same age as most college draftees at Lowell. What do you think of that?
MJ: I hear a lot of people commenting on my success, that I’m older than all the guys, but, again, I don’t have that much baseball experience, so I’m right where I need to be. Next year, hopefully I’ll be up with guys more my age and be able to post numbers there and become a legitimate prospect.
RSN: What did U.L. Washington have to say about you performance at the “Futures at Fenway” game?
MJ: It was my first game away from him and I struggled. I got caught up in the hype and went 0-for-4. He called me the next morning and asked what I was doing. He said I got hot and then I get up here and I go 0-for-4, and asks me if I’m trying [laughs]. I was just pressing. I got caught up in the moment. I still enjoyed myself. I just have to settle down and stick to the same approach I had in rookie ball.
RSN: You said you were pressing at the “Futures at Fenway” game. What do you do wrong when you start pressing as a hitter?
MJ: I was very jumpy. My adrenaline was going more than it usually would. My bat speed was a lot faster, and I would jump out at the ball a lot more. I didn’t wait for the ball to come to me. I didn’t see the ball very well at all. I just need to wait back for the ball to come to me and put a good swing on it.
RSN: What was the best part of “Futures at Fenway” for you?
MJ: All I’ve known of pro ball was the GCL, where there are five or ten fans in the stands. Going around the field, there were 30,000 people and they’re excited and they’re all screaming your name. You can’t walk anywhere without someone sticking a ball in your face to sign. I’m a people person, so I love that. I feel bad if I don’t get to every kid and sign their ball. Just being at Fenway, and being on top of the world for a day, was great. I looked around and saw a couple of “Mike Jones” signs. It makes me feel good that little kids are looking up to me. I just want to be a positive influence on them.
RSN: You worked with Spinners hitting coach Alan Mauthe in extended spring training. Has he noticed a change in your approach since coming to Lowell?
MJ: He said he noticed I’ve gotten a thousand times better. He likes what I’m doing. He said I’m a completely different hitter than what he saw earlier. That gave me some confidence to know that I’m doing some things right. He said it’s my bat-path -- I’m in the zone a lot longer. I’m not trying to pull everything I see. I’m pretty much hitting the ball where it’s pitched.
RSN: What do you feel like you need to work on going forward?
MJ: I need to get myself in better conditioning to play first base, especially going into a long season. Also, consistency. I went on this two-week tear. I don’t want this to be only a two-week tear. I want this to be me all the time, you know? I don’t want to go back to what I was doing before. One thing I was doing was taking a lot of swings in the morning, but that’s what kills me. I’d take so many swings and change things from swing to swing and I wouldn’t notice it. By the time I finished swinging, I’d be all messed up again. My hitting coaches are working with me to work on quality, not quantity. I get to the point where I feel good in the cage and then get out.