Pittsburgh Pirates' Garret Jones looks for more glory – MLB News
The Pittsburgh Pirates' Garret Jones on Tuesday, September 4, expressed his confidence and pleasure over his recent performance. The player has a .455 record since last Tuesday.
For the Pirates, a team that is making strides and are all set to be a part of Wild Card race if things go well, Jones’ performance holds incredible significance. He brings power to the offence, allowing the team more space to manoeuvre.
The season average of Jones stands at .291, something that is a remarkable improvement for the young player. Worthwhile to recall is the fact that he started his career only last year and since then has been making decent improvement.
"I'm just feeling comfortable. I'm seeing the ball well," Jones said.
Such performance cannot go unnoticed, especially by the team manager Clint Hurdle who looks to him as a bright prospect for the team’s future. With 23 homers this season, he is among the few batters of the Pirates to have struck over 20 homers.
"When you're swinging the bat well, the ball's bigger and everything seems to slow down," Hurdle said. "He's in a very good place at the plate now. He's aggressive within the strike zone and has a lot of confidence."
Among other batters who have had over 20 hits are Pedro Alvarez, that tops the list with 27. Other than that, Andrew McCutchen comes second with 24. This is the first time that three of the Pirates batters have had over 20 home-runs hitters since 2008.
Jones, on the other hand, remains calm, maintaining his humility about it. This is indeed an achievement for the player, but a bigger achievement will be to win more games for the Pirates that have set their eyes on the playoffs and beyond.
"I'm relaxed and my timing feels good. My path to the ball feels good, so I'm just trying to maintain that and keep it going," Jones said.
Making it to the playoffs will not be difficult if the Pirates’ offence performs as is expected along with the defence at this crucial stage of the season.
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