IronPigs’ Damon Jones has exploded onto the Phillies’ radar in 2019
The former 18th-round draft pick could very well see himself donning a Phillies uniform this season.
This year has thrown a lot Damon Jones’ way, and that’s not about to change any time soon.
Jones, a 6-foot-5, 225-pound southpaw from Washington State University, was an 18th-round draft pick of the Phillies back in 2017 and this season has jumped from single-A Clearwater to triple-A Lehigh Valley.
Over his first two seasons playing single-A ball with the short-season Williamsport Crosscutters and full-season Lakewood BlueClaws, he wasn’t making anyone do a double-take. He spent 2017 in Williamsport, where he went 2-3 with a 4.85 ERA in 26 innings. During 2018 in Lakewood, he improved to 10-7 with a 3.41 ERA in 113 1/3 innings.
That gradual progress was part of an ascension that Jones didn’t expect to take him very far. But his stock has skyrocketed in 2019 for good reason.
After starting the season with the Clearwater Threshers, where he posted a 1.82 ERA in 58 1/3 innings, he brought his improved stuff to double-A Reading, where things really took off. He pitched in only four games with the Fightin Phils, but was dominant. He threw 22 innings, collected a win, and saw his ERA drop to 0.82.
The development was unexpected, but it didn’t come out of nowhere.
“Sometimes you pinch yourself,” Jones said when asked about whether his performances have been surprising. “But I’d say, for the most part, the work that I’ve put in is showing up, so that’s nice to see.”
Jones committed himself to improving his command, something with which he’d previously struggled. He hit a bump in the road in his second game with the IronPigs, when he gave up eight earned runs on five hits in just an inning of work. And he gave up four runs in 3 2/3 innings in his next start, but the 24-year-old knows better than to change course.
“Take away the good, take away the bad, kind of recollect a little bit, and then flush it,” he said. “It’s a bad outing, you don’t want to let it affect your next start. ... It was kind of one of those days. I didn’t really have a grip on the baseball — it was really hot and sweaty — and the fastball command was really bad, so it’s something I’ve been working on.”
On his third team of the year — thus far — Jones hasn’t thought too much of the changes in scenery, focusing instead on what he can do on the field.
“I started on the away trip at Rochester, so I was on the road for 10 or 12 days, so that was kind of tough, taking all my suitcases with me everywhere,” Jones joked. “It’s good to finally be here and settle down a little bit.”
Even if he’s happy with his new home, he ought not to get comfortable. He pitched his first game for the IronPigs on June 14, but he might not be wearing the Lehigh Valley uniform for much longer, especially with the Phillies’ current pitching struggles causing general manager Matt Klentak and manager Gabe Kapler to broaden their search for help.
“Jones’ line is not especially sexy," Kapler said. "But just watching the ball come out of his hand, it’s a real fastball. It’s a fastball that, I believe, at some point will play. A lot of the conversations that have gone on are around his slider, curveball and changeup. And I think that’s important. But I think what’s most important is, will the fastball play at this level? I think the fastball will play at this level.”
While MLB.com ranks him as only the 21st-best prospect in the Phillies organization, Baseball America put Jones in the Surging category of its June “Dynasty Stock Report.” Despite his quick rise through the minor league ranks, Jones isn’t particularly worried about what the future has in store for him, at least with regard to baseball.
That lack of concern has been around for some time. Jones had limited college baseball options coming out of high school, and he blew out his shoulder while at the College of Southern Idaho. He was lucky to receive a scholarship offer from Washington State, whose coach had been to Jones’ Xpress summer league game to scout one of his teammates.
He never really considered professional baseball to be a legitimate possibility, and he’s not letting the looming thought of the Phillies consume him now.
“Baseball’s never been the number one, because I’ve got a fiancée that’s pregnant,” he said. “I’ve got other things in the forefront of my mind. I think everyone wants that opportunity [in MLB], but if it happens, it happens; and if not, then, it’ll happen one day.”