Zach Jones RHP

[MinnFan4Life]

Greeting Twins Fans. While E-Challenged I will be attempting to update fans on Right Handed Pitcher Zach Jones. Zach is currently a relief pitcher for the Ft Myers Miracle.

 

Zach is 22 years old. He was drated last year by the Twins in the 2012 Draft out of San Jose State. He was taken with the Twins only 4th round pick, #130 overall.

 

6' 1"

185 lbs

Throws:R Bats:R

Born 12/04/1990

 

After signing on June 17th of last year, he split time between Elizab and Beloit. He begins this season at High A - Ft Myers. Currently used as a relief pitcher, he is one of the Miracle hurlers filling the closers role.

 

I would put Zach in the Power Pitcher category. His fastball has been clocked in the mid 90's this season. He's hit 95, 96 and even 97 on the radar gun this year.

 

My stats have Zach recording 4 saves already this year during the Miracle's impressive 12 - 0 start to the season. He has appeared in 5 games during the 12 game undefeated run - throwing a total of 6 innings.

 

While most of the Miracle roster has impressive stats during this red hot start, Zach is no different. All his appearances have been in relief. In 6 innings pitched, he has 7 strikouts - allowing only 1 hit and 1 walk during that time. Opponents have a pultry combined batting average of .053 vs Jones.

 

On a personal level, I had the chance to speak with Zach for a couple of minutes in Ft Myers in Mid-March during Spring Training. He seemed to be a nice, polite and personable young man. Thus far, he seems to be moving through the ranks of the Twins organization rather quickly having only been drafted last June and playing with his third Twins affiliate. (Elib. & Beloit - 2012; Starting at Ft Myers - 2013).

Being stuck living in Iowa, I will have little opportunity to see Zach pitch in person anytime soon, but will do my best to keep fans updated on his progress. He seems to be off to an impressive start so far and may be eyeing New Britian yet this season.

I VERY MUCH WELCOME ANY FANS COMMENTS AND CONTRIBUTIONS REGARDING INFORMATION ON JONES' PROGRESS THROUGHOUT THE COURSE OF THE SEASON - ESPECIALLY THOSE WHO HAVE THE CHANCE TO SEE ZACH PITCH IN PERSON. THANKS.

[nicksaviking]

He's got a chance to move fast. I love the potential, he's got a chance to be a big time back-end of the bullpen arm.

[Seth Stohs]

He and Corey Williams are essentially sharing the closer role for the Miracle. I think they both have four already. Zack Jones throws hard. He has hit 99 on the radar gun already this year. He's still fairly new to pitching. I think he needs to develop a second pitch in order to really be successful, but if he does, he certainly will move quickly.

[MinnFan4Life]

Jones Continues To Roll

Thursday, April 18

 

Ft Myers Miracle RP Zach Jones closed out a victory for the Twins High A minor league team Thursday night in a back and forth battle with the St. Lucie Mets. The Miracle beat the New York Mets minor league affiliate 11 - 8, notching their 13th win in their first 14 games of the season.

 

Jones threw the final 2 shutout innings on Thursday to record his 5th save of the year in a game that also featured Miguel Sano's 5th home run of the season. Jones was once again very effective, pitching the 8th and 9th inning for the Miracle. That gives Zach the lead in saves throughout the entire Twins organization.

 

While it is early in the 2013 campaign, Jones has been impressive. In Thursday night's save, Jones threw 2 innings - striking out 3 batters, walking 1 without allowing a hit. *If my stats are correct, to this point -

Jones has appeared in 6games.

Pitched 8 total Innings.

Struck out 10 batters.

Walked only 2.

Allowed just 1 hit, lowering his vs opponent batting avg to .042

He has not allowed an earned run yet this season. For those of you who need help with the math - That is an ERA of 0.00

For those of you who are not sure - That is pretty darn good.

 

Leading all Twins pitchers in saves within the organizaton is even more impressive when you consider that Jones is sharing the closer's role with highly thought of prospect Corey Williams. Williams has recorded 4 saves, as well. Of course, when your team is 13 -1 to start the season and the staff has 9 saves - You likely aren't going to have all 9 saves yourself in just 14 total games.

 

This kid continues to impress me. I would truly love to see him get the chance to work with Twins coach Bobby Cuellar on developing an effective change up to go along with his powerful fastball. Keep an eye on this potential bull pen weapon

 

[TRex]

Question for the group...

 

Do you think there is any chance the Twins will try to build up his innings and give him a try at starting next year? He doesn't have much mileage on his arm, and it's not like he was a failed starter in college. I like that they are giving him a chances to pitch 2 innings, I wonder if he maintains the speed on his fastball?

[MinnFan4Life]

TRex - Great question. I'm not sure that was the thinking behind having him throw both the 8th & 9th inning last night, though. I would like to see Zach stay at back end of the bullpen for now. The organization has often taken short inning guys and see how the react to extended innings and that could definately be a possibility here. But recently the Twins have gone out & targetted several players for that starting pitcher role. (Alex Meyer, Trevor May, and some of the pitchers from the last draft who have already been slotted as starters). Zach's looked pretty good out of the bullpen to this point. There aren't too many guys like Verlander who maintain or even increases his velocity as the game goes on. I hope they ride it out for now by keeping him in the closer's role. As we hope that some of these kids grow into roles with the big league club, we will need depth at all positions - including the pen. I like the idea of a power pitching, HARD throwing closer in the future. I am no scout - but I would guess that is Zach's best option right now going forward. Maybe I am wrong. All I know is it is nice to see power arms in the system.

[Seth Stohs]

Question for the group...

 

Do you think there is any chance the Twins will try to build up his innings and give him a try at starting next year?

 

No.

[jokin]

He's got a chance to move fast. I love the potential, he's got a chance to be a big time back-end of the bullpen arm.

 

2 levels up last year, 2 levels up this year puts him finishing the year in New Britain, ...and available for a September call-up if they're not concerned about his arm. Wouldn't hurt to find out how close he is to being ready. Gives you options going forward in 2014 and beyond- possibly trading Perkins or Burton during 2014 if we're not in it, perhaps easing Jones into either role to be ready for full-time duty in 2015, possibly even a Lefty/Righty closing tandem. Very exciting to think about the possibilities just ahead.

[MinnFan4Life]

Question for the group...

 

Do you think there is any chance the Twins will try to build up his innings and give him a try at starting next year?

 

Hi TRex,

There are no real plans at all to move Jones from the bullpen to explore using him as a starter. His curve ball is not thought to be anywhere close to major league level. I am not sure that he's used much at all since turning pro. This makes it harder to go through a lineup two and three times. I believe that he does use a slider. That is why I would really like to see him develop an effective change up. His game is going out and turning it loose for an inning or two at the most. Many scouts dislike his delivery. It would never be described as effortless. I feel (and I am no expert) that his potential path to the bigs is being a gun that comes out and throws smoke. Developing more control of the strike zone and a complimentary pitch will determine how likely that is to happening.

[MinnFan4Life]

Zach Jones Proves Human After All

April 23, 2013

 

Relief pitcher and "co-closer" Zach Jones gave up his first earned run of the season in the Ft Myers Miracle 5 - 1 victory over the Palm Beach Cardinals on Tuesday. The Miracle salvaged the third game of the series and avoided a sweep on an extended road trip before a scheduled day off on Wednesday. The away game run resumes on Thursday night when the Miracle travel to Charlotte to take on the Stone Crabs, a Tampa Bay affiliate. The win over the Cardinals featured Miguel Sano's 7th home run of the year and Sano managed to avoid being ejected after launching the four bagger.

 

This was Jones' 7th appearance of 2013 and his first since April 18th. Zach entered the game to start the eighth inning replacing Nelvin Fuentes, who pitched a scoreless seventh. He had to face 6 hitters to complete the inning. Jones retired the first batter, getting him to strike out swinging. However, he walked the next hitter, Matt Williams. With a runner on first, the next batter flied out to Angel Morales in center field. Jones then yeilded a single to put runners on first and third with two outs. Cody Stanley followed up that base hit with another single, scoring Matt Williams from third. Jones then closed the inning, retiring Danny Stienstra on a swinging strike out. The two singles were twice as many hits as Jones had allowed in his previous 6 appearances combined.

 

Corey Williams replaced Jones in the ninth, retiring the side in order on three ground ball outs. The first two batters ground out to Miguel Sano at third. Williams then caught the grounder from the final batter of the game himself, throwing to Kenny Vargas at first who recorded all three outs of the final inning to secure the win.

 

Jones' walk to Williams was his third of the season. Likewise, the two singles allowed in today's eighth inning means he has allowed just three hits this year. The two strike outs today, to begin and end the eighth, bring his season total to 12 K's. That total ranks third on the Miracle for total strikeouts behind two starting pitchers.

 

With Jones allowing the run in the eighth inning, his ERA balloons to 1.00 (sarcasism). The two singles also means that opponents are now batting .103 against Jones. Like the 12 & 0 start to the season by Ft Myers, the run allowed today mean that neither Jones or the Miracle are able to remain perfect throughout the entire season. The win moves the Miracle 2013 record to 15 - 4, good for a 3 game lead in their division ahead of the St. Lucie Mets.

 

Fans still have to like the start to the season by both Zach Jones and the Miracle as a team. There is a lot of talent on this ball club and leads fans to feel that the future is quite bright for a number of future Minnesota Twins currently playing for the Ft Myers Miracle.

[MinnFan4Life]

Zach Jones Records Win

April 29

 

At Clearwater

 

On Monday night, Jones entered the game vs Clearwater in the top of the 8th Inning. The miracle were trailing 3 - 2 at the time.

Zach retired the first batter that he faced. Then with one out in the inning he surrendered a solo Home Run to Kelly Dugan. I believe it was Dugan's first Home Run of the season with Clearwater. After giving up the dinger, Jones retired the next two batters he faced - getting out of the inning. After 8 innings complete, Ft. Myers trailed Clearwater 4 to 2.

The Miracle came up to bat in the top of the 9th and promptly scored 3 runs to take the lead 5 to 4 heading into the bottom of the inning. Jones returned to the mound for the bottom of the 9th. Zach struck out the first batter he faced. He then surrendered a single to the second batter of the inning. However Jones got the next batter to ground into a 4-6-3 double play that ended the game. Final score Ft. Myers 5 Clearwater 4.

Jones gets credit for the win by allowing the home run in the 8th and becoming the pitcher of record when the Miracle scored 3 runs in the top of the 9th to take the lead. If baseball allowed it, Jones could have qualified for the save as well. But since he gets the win - he doesnt get credit for the save.

 

Final line for Jones:

2 Innings pitched, 2 hits, 1 Run allowed (on Home Run) 1 K

Gets the Win, Pitches the bottom of 9th to secure 5 - 4 Victory

[MinnFan4Life]

Zach Jones Throws 2 Shutout Innings

May 3 vs St. Lucie

 

Zach Jones came into the game for the Miracle in the top of the 8th Inning. He promptly retired the first two batters that he faced. The third batter of the inning hit a ground ball that Jones fielded but made a wild throw to 1st base. The batter reached safely and went to 2nd on the errant throw. Compounding matters, Jones then unleashed a wild pitch that allowed the runner to advance to third base. Zach escaped damage and got out of the inning by getting a ground ball out that closed out the 8th, stranding the runner at third base.

 

Jones had an equally unsettling 9th inning, but once again found the third out before allowing a run to score. He returned to the mound for the top of the 9th inning and looked to be in command. He retired the first two batters of the inning on fly balls to lef field. Leading 6 to 0 and needing only one out to end the game, Jones then walked the next two batters. So with two out in the inning and runners on first and second via free passes, Jones got a simple ground ball out to end the game. Miracle win 6-0.

 

Final line for Jones:

2 Innings pitched, 1 Hit, 2 BB, 0 K, 0 Runs allowed

No Win or Save Qualified for.

[MinnFan4Life]

Zach Jones Grabs 6th Save of Season

May 7

 

After a four day layoff from the mound, Zach Jones returned to action to garner a save for the Ft. Myers Miracle in a 4-2 win over Tampa. While securing the victory, Jones once again managed to look both inconsistant and dominating in the same outing.

 

The Miracle had a 4 - 2 lead heading into the 9th inning. Jones took the mound in the top half of the 9th. Zach walked to lead off batter, bringing the tying run to the plate with no one out. Less than an ideal start to the inning for a prospect closer. He then proceeded to show why this fan remains excited about his potential. With a runner on first and leading by just two runs, Jones fanned the next three batters. All three batters struck out swinging, with Jones' fastball hitting triple didgits on the radar gun more than once. Zach gets his 6th save of the year. Miracle win 4-2.

 

Final Line for Jones:

1 Inning pitched 0 Hits, 0 Runs Allowed, 1 BB, 3 Ks

Save 6th of season

[MinnFan4Life]

Zach Jones Work 2 Innings in Win for Miracle

May 10

At Jupiter

 

Zach Jones work 2 solid innings on the road in Jupiter for Ft. Myers in their extra Inning win on the 10th of May. The Miracle were deadlocked 2 to 2 entering the 8th Inning.

 

Miracle pitcher Chad Rodgers started the bottom of 8th. He gave up a base hit to the lead off hitter to start the inning. Zach Jones was then brought in with a runner on 1st base and no one out with the score tied at 2. The 1st batter to face Jones (the second of the inning) tried to sacrifice bunt with 2 strikes. The bunt attempt went foul, giving Jones credit for a strike out and the 1st out of the inning. After getting a break with the 2 strike bunt attempt, Zach walked the next batter - moving the go ahead run into scoring position for Jupiter, putting runners at 1st and 2nd. The next batter grounded out and was retired at 1st base. There were then 2 outs but runners at 2nd and 3rd. Jones then closed out the 8th, striking out the next batter swinging and leaving the runners stranded in scoring position.

 

The Miracle brought the heart of the order up in the top half of the 9th. M. Sano, K. Vargas, and M. Koch were due up. Surprisingly, Jupiter's pitcher fanned all three Miracle batters 3 up and 3 down. He was able to retire Ft. Myers in order, setting all 3 down swinging.

 

Jones rose to the challenge and was able to match that in the bottom of the 9th. He retired all 3 batters in order, getting each hitter on swinging strikes. A rather dominate performance to send the game to extra innings.

 

After throwing 2 Innings, Jones was replaced by Adrian Salcedo in the bottom of the 10th. The Miracle plated 3 runs in the top of the 11th and won the game 5-3.

 

Final Line for Jones:

2 Innings pitched, 0 Hits, 0 Runs allowed, 1 BB, 5 Ks

Miracle win 5-2