teammates at home base.
While Ryan Jones’ freshman season was filled with bad at-bats, poor swings and hitless games, the low point of that frustrating first year is surprisingly easy to identify.
It came after another typically awful performance that caused, yet again, the normally gregarious Jones to turn grumpy.
His mother, Rosemary, had seen enough. Out of good humor (we think), she offered to put a baseball on a tee and watch her son take a little batting practice. “You know you’ve hit rock bottom,” Jones says, “when your mom offers to analyze your swing.”
Not to pile on, but here’s another indication of how lousy that first year was. On goshockers.com, the personal bio for Jones includes the fact that, as a freshman, he had a hitting streak … of two games. Two games. To sum up, Jones earned only 10 starts and managed just a .155 batting average in 2007 — embarrassing numbers for a highly regarded recruit who had been Kansas’ player of the year as a senior at Bishop Carroll Catholic High School. “That freshman season was,” Jones says, “the toughest thing I’ve ever gone through in my life.”
Of course, the story has a happy ending. (Or middle, since Jones still has at least one year left as a Shocker.)
Whether it was Mom’s offer, help from WSU’s experienced coaching staff, or simply the fact he finally learned how to hit a change-up, Jones enjoyed a breakout season as a sophomore. He hit, hustled, ran the bases with abandon, scored runs, made several highlight-worthy plays in the outfield.
The sudden improvement didn’t surprise teammate Andy Dirks, who offers a glowing endorsement of Jones’ abilities. Before we get to that opinion, it’s important to note that Dirks was a team leader as a senior, a hardnosed and highly respected Shocker selected by the Tigers in the Major League Baseball draft. In other words, his opinion carries weight.
“Ryan’s got tremendous tools — a great arm, quick bat, good pop,” Dirks reports from Florida, where he was participating in a Tigers’ mini camp. “He can hit for average, hit for power. He can do everything there is to do on a baseball field. He’s got that natural talent that you just can’t teach. He always plays hard. Dude will run into a wall, slide hard in second base. You can never fault him for not giving 100 percent.”
Nestled comfortably in the No. 2 spot in the batting order, between Dirks (.388 average) and team MVP Conor Gillaspie (.419), the durable Jones played in all 65 games last season, hit .326, swiped 16 steals and scored 70 runs. In Missouri Valley Conference play, he batted .353 with a .436 on-base percentage.
“Hitting smack dab in the middle of Dirks and Gillaspie, I saw a bunch of pitches to hit,” Jones says. “And my approach changed. I went up there just trying to get a hit or get on base to help my team, instead of going up there trying to win a game every time. I got a few more at-bats under my belt, gained confidence. I learned to lay off the bad pitches and swing at the good ones.”
While Jones’ performance at the plate improved markedly, it was a defensive play in the Valley tournament that might best define his season. With one out in the seventh and WSU up 12-0, Southern Illinois hit a ball down the right-field line. The speedy Jones raced over. “I dove, fully extended, and snow-coned it,” he says. “After the catch, I jumped up and threw home.”
Just in time to nail a runner at the plate. The double play ended the game by run rule and preserved a sparkling outing by Rob Musgrave, who struck out five and walked none.
“Everybody was saying it was a web gem, as good as a walk-off hit, but I was just happy to help Musgrave get the shutout,” Jones says.
Count the sometimes hard-to-impress Gene Stephenson among those amazed by Jones’ catch. “That just goes to show you this guy Jones is some kind of outfielder and some kind of arm,” WSU’s coach told the Wichita Eagle. “You’re not going to see a better play than that anywhere in baseball, anywhere.”
You also probably won’t find a more outgoing, friendly player on the Shocker roster than the talkative Jones. While his statistics and defensive plays are worthy of note, so is his personality. His high school coach, Charlie Ebright, has described him as a kid in a candy store on the baseball field. Eagle beat writer Paul Suellentrop has seldom encountered a player like Jones. “Most of the guys are friendly and polite, but Ryan always takes the time to ask me how my kids are doing or how I’m doing,” Suellentrop says. “That’s pretty rare.”
The best story, though, involves Tami Cutler, who handles media relations for WSU baseball.
As Jones tells it, Cutler was seven months pregnant and dreading an upcoming road trip to Evansville. So Jones had his mom bake a huge bag of Cutler’s favorite treat — M & M cookies — for the lengthy bus ride. “He’s a thoughtful guy,” Cutler says.
Of course, Jones intimates that he perhaps had an ulterior motive for giving out the sweets. Cutler, you see, is the official scorer at WSU home games. “Hey, you gotta suck up to her — she decides if it’s an error or a hit,” Jones says with a chuckle.
Jones’ improvement was just one of numerous positives during the recently completed season.
The Shockers won the MVC championship; captured a regional when Clinton McKeever’s dramatic grand slam beat Oklahoma State in Stillwater; and advanced to a super regional for the second straight year, stretching power-packed Florida State to three games before losing. On several occasions, Stephenson openly declared his fondness for the ’08 team.
“We put our name back on the map as national contenders,” Jones says. “It was heart-breaking to lose in the super regional, but overall it was a great season.”
Duplicating that success in 2009 will be difficult. The Shockers must replace their top three starters on the mound (Musgrave, Aaron Shafer and Anthony Capra) and numerous position players, including Gillaspie.
Obviously, Jones will be a key player as Stephenson begins one of his biggest rebuilding tasks in years. Jones, who will play in the talent-laden Cape Cod league over the summer, says Shocker coaches have told him to prepare to hit No. 3 and perhaps play center field. Most importantly, coaches expect leadership.
“It’s going to be tough, but I want to help get everybody going,” Jones says “JT (assistant coach Jim Thomas) and Gene set me aside and told me they want me to be a team leader next year. With my experience, and everything I’ve gone through, I think I can help the younger guys out a lot.” Then Jones chuckles.
“I think I can help them avoid hitting .155, that’s for sure.”
And if Jones can’t do it, his mom probably can.
