THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, April 1, 1995 TAG: 9504010374
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TOM ROBINSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PORT ST. LUCIE, FLA. LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines
Of all the players in camp with the Norfolk Tides, none begs one question more than outfielder Chris Jones - What is he doing here?
``I asked him that the first day,'' Tides manager Toby Harrah said. ``I told him I thought he should be on a roster of a big league club.''
In other words, Jones appears plenty talented enough to be on strike right now. He's plenty confident about that, too. For whenever a labor settlement is reached and Mets manager Dallas Green finally picks a team, Jones figures that will be the last he sees of Norfolk.
``If I just go out and do what I usually do every year, I think I'll be one of those 25,'' said Jones, expected to start as the Tides' rightfielder. ``If Dallas takes the best 25 players, I feel I should have no problem. No problem.''
What Jones has done over the past couple years is hit for average and power - and spend his time bouncing between the majors and Triple-A with the rap as a poor defensive player. Formerly in the big leagues with the Cincinnati Reds and Houston Astros, Jones was with the Colorado Rockies and their Colorado Springs farm club the last two seasons.
Since 1992, he has hit .312 in Triple-A and .260 in the major leagues. But at 29, Jones has never spent a full season in the bigs. The closest he came was 1993, when he played in 86 games for the Rockies and hit .273 with six home runs and 31 RBIs.
Said Harrah: ``I told him, `We need to focus on playing defense and let your hitting take care of itself. I've looked at your numbers and you've hit all the time. We need to get you to improve your all-around game.' ''
Jones brings ample athletic tools to the drawing board. Solid at 6-foot-2 and 220 pounds, Jones was a two-time all-state quarterback at Syracuse's Liverpool High School. He signed a letter of intent to play at Rutgers, but chose baseball when the Reds made him their third draft choice in 1984.
He has an above-average arm, according to Harrah, and can run 60 yards in 6.4 seconds. What he doesn't have is a lot of luck.
The way Jones explains it, what he's doing here involves an array of situations in which he has been the easiest guy to farm out when a specific need - a lefthanded pitcher, a first baseman, etc. - arose elsewhere on the club.
``It seems like I'm always the 25th man, every team I'm on,'' said Jones, who signed as a free agent last November. ``My wife asks me if I'm mean, do I talk back, do I say something wrong, do I make myself a bad person to make people do this?
``I just play the game and give 100 percent every time out there. Then I think about it and say to myself, maybe being (a jerk) is the key. It seems like a lot of (jerks) are in the big leagues. I wonder if I become a jerk it might get me there. ... Nah, I don't think that'll work.''
Jones' visions of a regular role in Green's outfield burst when the strike didn't end, and that zapped some of his enthusiasm for spring training - the toughest physically and mentally he's been through, he said.
``I know I have a chance to make a team up there when this thing is settled,'' said Jones. ``That's the only thing that kept me going through this camp, to be totally honest. If I was just in camp to make a Double-A or Triple-A team, I don't think I could do it.''
So that's why he's here, in this unprecendented spring.
``I always consider myself a major leaguer,'' Jones said. ``I didn't even come close to being a replacement player. I feel I have too many major league ties. And I feel if I became a replacement player it means my career's pretty much gone downhill. I feel right now it should be going up.'' ILLUSTRATION: MARTIN SMITH-RODDEN
Staff
``It seems like I'm always the 25th man, every team I'm on,'' said
Tides outfielder Chris Jones, who signed as a free agent last
November.
by CNB