As a catcher at Seminole High School and later at Pasco-Hernando College, Greg Jones was a solid backstop and hitter. As a pitcher his resume was miniscule. In fact, less than miniscule.
"I pitched maybe an inning here and there," recalled Jones, who still lives — and works — in Seminole. "Really I was always catching."
Seminole's Tom Kotchman, scouting for the Angels, picked up on Jones' arm as a catcher and saw something else.
"He was at a lot of our games and offered some advice," said Jones. "He just felt that I had the ability to throw a baseball. Why he thought that I can't really say."
In his senior year at Seminole High School, Jones was drafted in the 17th round as a catcher, but decided he first needed "more at-bats" and went on to Pasco-Hernando. When the draft came around again, the Angels came knocking on the door once more. He was told he was going to be a pitcher.
"All of a sudden I adjusted my thinking," said Jones. "If the opportunity to get to the big leagues was with my arm that was OK with me. I was excited to have the opportunity and I did feel I had the ability to throw strikes."
Jones' professional career began in earnest in 1997 with the Angels' Single-A team in Boise, Idaho. The transition to pitcher was a lot easier for Jones than one might think.
"I was comfortable right from the start," he said. "My job on the mound was to get guys out. As a catcher I worked with pitchers and I knew how hitters thought."
Making it to professional baseball was exciting, although Jones admits that while in high school — where he was a quarterback in football and also played basketball in addition to baseball — he had other ideas in mind.
"I wanted to be like Deion Sanders and play football and baseball in college, then go to the pros in both sports," he said with a smile. "I thought it was the coolest thing that Deion played football in the afternoon and baseball at night! As I got older though I realized that Deion was different than the rest of us."
In his first season at Boise, Jones started four games but was mainly a reliever in fashioning a 2-2 won-loss record with a pair of saves. For the most part, he remained a reliever throughout his minor league career and by the time he made it to the majors in 2003 he strictly came out of the bullpen.
Jones made his major league debut on July 30, 2003. It came in Anaheim against the New York Yankees with 43,856 fans in the ballpark. The Yankees, behind the pitching of Roger Clemens, were well ahead when Jones got the call in the top of the ninth inning.
"I will always remember my debut," said the righthander. "I think most guys who make it to that level feel the same way. You dream about it your entire life and you work and you work to get there. And there I was on the mound pitching against (first batter) Derek Jeter, a future Hall of Famer, I got him to pop out (in foul territory in right field). I will never forget that moment."
He then got Bernie Williams to ground out. After walking Jason Giambi, he caught Jorge Posada looking at strike three.
"It was a cool night all in all," Jones said.
Jones would go on to pitch in parts of four seasons with the Angels. Circumstances cut short his major league career.
"I hurt my arm in 2002," he noted. "Over time my arm slowly got worse and it was not the same. I tried to battle through it, but it continued to fray and I was less effective each year. It just got tougher and tougher. Eventually in the back of my mind I knew (it was going to be time to retire)."
On top of his arm troubles, even when healthy Jones had a big challenge ahead of him as the Angels had a powerful relief staff in the early to mid 2000's.
"We had a great bullpen with a lot of depth," said Jones. "I was around a lot of dudes that got it done. The drawback for me was trying to catch on with a bullpen like that."
Jones last pitched in the majors in 2007, although he did hurl for the Dodgers Triple-A farm team in 2008. He hung up his glove following the 2008 season.
Jones, now 45 and a vice president at Acentria Insurance, is still involved in baseball as a coach with a traveling youth baseball team out of Tampa. He coaches the team with Plant City High School coach Dennis Braun, a good friend, whose star graduate is arguably Pete Alonso of the New York Mets. Over the years several of their players have gone on to the majors, including Kyle Tucker (Houston Astros), Jake Woodford (St. Louis Cardinals) and Mychal Givens (Chicago Cubs). Jones’ 11-year-old son, Cole, is a member of the current team.
“I follow (the careers) of all of those guys,” said Jones, a Braves fan still relishing in last year's World Series championship.
“I'm appreciative of everything that has come my way,” he added. “Great parents, great upbringing. I realized a dream. Not everybody can say that.”
