With the upcoming World Baseball Classic Qualifiers less than three weeks away, Spain hired former MLB outfielder Adam Jones to serve as the team’s hitting coach this February.
Jones, 39, was selected by the Seattle Mariners in the first round of the 2003 MLB Draft out of Samuel F. B. Morse High School in San Diego, California. He made his MLB debut with the Mariners in 2006 and played until 2019, mainly as a member of the Baltimore Orioles and the Arizona Diamondbacks.
He was part of a giant trade that sent Kam Mickolio, George Sherrill, and Chris Tillman to the Orioles in exchange for Canadian southpaw Erik Bedard. In Jones’ 11-year career with the Orioles, he became a five-time All-Star, four-time Gold Glove Award winner, and took home a Silver Slugger Award in 2013.
After the 2018 season, Jones signed a one-year deal with the Arizona Diamondbacks, where he played in his final MLB season in 2019. After the season, Jones signed a two-year contract with the Orix Buffaloes in Nippon Professional Baseball. Jones played 159 games in two seasons with the Buffaloes, hitting for a .250 average with 16 home runs and 66 RBIs. He would sign a one-day contract with the Baltimore Orioles to officially retire as a Baltimore Oriole in September 2023.
Jones is no stranger to international competition, as he was a United States National Baseball Team member in 2013 and 2017. His most memorable performance came back in 2017, where he hit a walk-off single to beat Colombia and robbed Dominican Republic slugger Manny Machado of a home run, which helped the United States advance to the semifinals. Jones would help the United States capture their first World Baseball Classic title.
After hanging up the spikes, he was recently hired by the Baltimore Orioles to serve as an advisor to the general manager and community ambassador. Also joining Spain’s coaching staff will be Nelson Prada as manager, Nestor Perez as bench coach, Manu Olivera as pitching coach, Candelario Diaz as third base coach, and Aritz Garcia as first base coach.
Spain’s quest to qualify for the World Baseball Classic begins on February 21 and will run until February 25. Spain is tasked with facing Chinese Taipei, Nicaragua, and South Africa. The first edition of the WBC Qualifiers will be played at the Taipei Dome in Taipei, Taiwan.
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