Brock Jones has put in the work to help Stanford get back to Omaha
During Big Game Week, Pac-12 Networks did a day in the life video on Stanford baseball junior center fielder Brock Jones. I figured it would be fun for some to watch that again and get a sneak peek at the kind of work Jones and other members of the team have put in to get back to the College World Series. As you can see by watching the video, getting back to Omaha was on the minds of everyone on the team and they have accomplished that goal. Now it’s about taking that next step and winning the whole thing.
Brock Jones has had a really good season, sporting a .327 batting average for 20 home runs and 56 RBIs to go along with a .665 slugging percentage and a .455 on-base percentage. While his number are very impressive, it’s not been an easy season for him. He’s had some real peaks and valleys, having to really stick with it during some tough times.
“Well, we always expected it,” Stanford head coach David Esquer said of Jones having a strong junior season on Saturday. “At least one of the super-regional games he’s going to hit three home runs, right? So, I’m hoping there’s maybe two 3 home run games there in the super regional? That would be cool. Hey, anyone who’s been around Brock and the season did [not] start the way he would have liked or a few of our players would have liked, right? But if you’re in the trenches with him, and just how positive he’s been, and what a great teammate he’s been, and just see the work he puts in every day to try to get himself better, it’s not a surprise that he was able to dig himself out and turn this thing around because along with being one of the most talented players I’ve ever had, he’s kinda the opposite of what everyone thinks he is. He’s the hardest worker, he’s the best teammate, he’s an unbelievable student, he’s humble, and he’s a guy that brings this whole program together, right?
“So, everyone was behind Brock the whole way. He was behind everybody the whole way. So, it’s just justice to see a guy like him have the success he’s had. But it wasn’t easy and I think he’ll take that lesson with him for the rest of his life and it was about perseverance, hard work, and a lot of blood, sweat, and tears up in that batting cages to kinda get himself right.
“I asked him one time, I said ‘Hey Brock, if you knew at the end of the year you’d hit .330 with 17 home runs, would you have signed up for that at the start of the year?’ He goes ‘Yes!’ I said, ‘If I told you how it was going to go would you have signed up for that?’ He goes ‘No!’”
“It’s one those things where it’s just, it’s baseball,” Jones added. “And I think it’s honestly something looking back I’m thankful for because you know at some point in your career you go through that and hopefully if you play long enough you’re going to go through that a lot of times, so it’s one of those things where I kinda always sit back I’m thinking you know what, there’s no such thing as losses, there’s only lessons and that’s something I try to live by just in general.
“Yeah, it was hard. It was definitely hard. There was days I’d go after practice and we’d have a punching bag up there and I would just let it eat on that punching bag and there were days some guys would be like hey, can I come up there and hit with you? I’m like, I need this time, bats were thrown, it’s just some of those things that kinda lead into it and kinda what he said, it’s just always trusting the process and I think you can never lose confidence in yourself once that’s over; then you know you’re gonna have trouble finding whatever skillset, whatever time you have in there.”
As was mentioned in the Pac-12 Networks video, Jones started out his career on The Farm playing football in addition to baseball. Jones’ days on the gridiron have had an impact on the way he approaches things on the baseball diamond. More than anything, it’s just about bringing the right mentality.
“Yeah, you know, I think it’s a mindset thing just in general,” Jones said of how football shaped him. “I think you can take a lot of things from either sport and translate them. But for me it’s kinda, honestly I should probably do it more often than I do but thinking of a one-on-one as a receiver and a DB, as a one-on-one being a hitter and a pitcher. So, I think going into that and just not allowing that guy to beat you, a lot of times you can beat yourself, but not allowing him to beat you, because you have to think that you’re better than him and as soon as you don’t. Then, that’s when you get beat. So that’s one of those things where I’ve been trying to work on throughout my career and I’m kinda loose and I like to be you know, fun and stuff like that. But at the same time when you step in that box it’s gonna be big time.”
“He’s just getting better and better as a baseball player,” Esquer added. “He started off, when he got here, he was just kinda athleting baseball. And now he’s been able to take that high level of being an athlete along with again, just the work that he’s willing to put in to make himself a better baseball player and he’s still learning. I mean, he’s not as good as he’s gonna be and he is what he is right now, which is a special player. But, to say he’s scratching the surface, but there’s still a lot more improvement in there and there’s just a better baseball player in there than he is now and he’s doing what he’s doing at a high level for us even today.”
Looking ahead to the College World Series, the journey that Brock Jones has taken to have the season he’s had and help Stanford get back to this point for the second straight season is one of the major storylines that deserves a lot of attention. It wasn’t always easy for him, but in the end, he reaped the rewards and deservedly so.
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