Former Gamecock John Jones now starring for North Greenville

John Jones left State College of Florida Junior College following his freshman season and came to the Palmetto State with big plans for the rest of his college baseball career.

Jones signed with the University of South Carolina and played two up-and-down seasons for the Gamecocks, helping USC reach a Super Regional as a sophomore before the team failed to make the NCAA Tournament his junior year.

The catcher transferred from USC following his junior season and is playing his final year of eligibility at North Greenville. Jones is finally starring for a college baseball program in South Carolina, just not how he imagined.

After batting .093 while receiving minimal playing time at South Carolina last season, Jones is hitting .376 with seven home runs, 14 doubles and a team-high 56 RBIs for the Crusaders, a team that is currently ranked No. 1 in Division II. He was 6-for-6 in a game on Saturday.

Jones is playing for former Gamecocks catcher Landon Powell, who is NGU’s coach, and is loving every minute of it.

“The process was tough because I’m from Florida, and leaving an SEC school everybody kind of wanted me to go to Tampa or some big school in Florida and go back home, but I just went with my heart instead of my mind,” Jones said. “I wanted to make sure I went somewhere where I was comfortable, where I knew I wasn’t going to waste any more time, somewhere I knew I would get better. I wouldn’t have to worry about anything else other than getting better, and I knew that was here. I took a leap of faith.”

Jones proved that he is capable of catching fire during his sophomore season at USC. He played in 60 games with 55 starts and batted .269 with 11 doubles, seven homers and 49 RBIs.

Jones was named the SEC Player of the Week twice during his sophomore season. The first time came after he reached base in all 14 plate appearances in a weekend series against Penn State. He was also honored a couple of weeks later after hitting a pair of home runs, including a game-winner, in a three-game sweep of Arkansas.

But Jones struggled in the second half of the 2016 season and was never able to get on track in 2017.

He looks back on his time as a Gamecock with mixed emotions.

“I wouldn’t trade the memories there, and unless you make it to the big leagues you’re not going to get something like that. That aspect of it, I got to try something and see something few people have. But the other side of it is the ultimate goal is playing in the big leagues, and I feel like I didn’t get closer to that there,” Jones said. “The people I left behind, obviously, my teammates I was close with, that made it harder than anything else about leaving there. But looking back I guess it’s just kind of a stepping stone. It’s not a high or low, just something that happened and moving on.”

Jones has been a positive presence on the field and in the locker room for the Crusaders. NGU won the Conference Carolinas Tournament title last week, with Jones earning Most Outstanding Player honors. He hit .389 with six RBIs as NGU finished the tournament 4-0.

Jones has fallen back in love with baseball during his senior season at North Greenville, and he credits Powell and North Greenville’s environment for helping him get back on track.

“The last thing I told Landon when he was recruiting me and right before I committed, I told him, ‘All I want to know is am I going to have fun going to the field? I’m not going to be dreading practice. All I want to know is, will I be happy getting in the truck and going to the field?’” Jones said. “And every day we’re all here early because we want to be here. That’s loving the game the best that you can.”

Jones and North Greenville will play in the Division II NCAA Tournament later this month.

He is hopeful that his senior season will end with him being drafted in next month’s MLB draft.

“I feel like I’m a safe bet. I feel like I’ve got another month, and if there’s any questions still I’m going to answer them and leave no doubt in their mind,” Jones said. “Everyone tells me that I can’t catch, and I’ve always felt like that’s not right. I think that’s the biggest thing I’ve proved is I can come out here and catch every day. I can go out and manage a pitching staff every day. I can get behind there every day and stay healthy and keep myself right enough to be out there playing every day and be a consistent hitter throughout a year and not a high-low hitter.”

This story was originally published May 5, 2018 at 6:09 PM with the headline "Former Gamecock John Jones now starring for North Greenville."