Garrett Jones spent four years with the same Class AAA team, the Rochester Red Wings, an affiliate of the Minnesota Twins, and hit 81 home runs. He was mostly a first baseman. In the second season, the player ahead of him, Justin Morneau, was the most valuable player in the American League.  Jones led the International League in games played that season, 2006, then played some more in Venezuela. It was his eighth year in the minors without a call-up.  “I didn’t feel old at all,” said Jones, who turns 29 in June. “I still feel young. But yeah, on paper, it’s like, ‘This guy’s got to make it or he’s going to be a Triple-A lifer.’ It’s definitely a tough situation. Each year you’re stuck in Triple A, you just get that much older waiting for that opportunity.”  Plenty of players are like Jones, their talent seemingly ranking somewhere between Class AAA and the majors. Most never shed the “4A” label, but Jones did. Last year with the Pittsburgh Pirates, he hit .293 with 21 homers and 44 runs batted in while playing just 82 games.  Jones led major league rookies in homers and slugging percentage (.567), and was named to the Baseball America all-rookie team. At 28, he was its oldest member. Nobody else was even 27.  “I wish I could sit here and say we thought Garrett Jones was going to hit 20 home runs,” Neal Huntington, the Pirates’ general manager, said. “The bottom line is we thought he was a big-league player.”  That is a more generous evaluation than the Pirates, and every other major league team, gave Jones in 2007. That was when he passed through waivers with no team claiming him.  It was not the first time Jones had been rejected. The Atlanta Braves drafted him out of an Illinois high school in 1999. Jones had a scholarship to Purdue but signed with the Braves instead. Their bonus offer included college tuition if he ever wanted to enroll.  “I figured, playing baseball every day, I could improve, and then just see where it takes me,” Jones said.  It took him nowhere, at least in the Braves’ system. In 2000, Atlanta drafted first basemen Scott Thorman and Adam LaRoche, both of whom passed him on the depth chart. Jones asked for and was granted his release in 2002, then signed with Minnesota and rose steadily before stagnating at Class AAA.  “Dangerous hitter; he had a knack for driving in runs,” said Pirates Manager John Russell, who saw Jones often when he managed in the minors. “This guy could hit, he could hit with power, he could run. He was a very interesting guy. He was one of those guys you looked at and said, ‘I’d like to see this guy in the major leagues.’ ”  When he finally made it, for three call-ups in 2007, Jones disappointed himself. He was 1 for 8 the first time, 3 for 17 the second time. He hit better the third time but could lift his average to only .208, with two home runs.  “I was pretty nervous,” Jones said. “I was just kind of overwhelmed, still in shock. It didn’t really register for a while. I was just kind of in awe and I wasn’t really focused on playing the game. I was more caught up in being in the big leagues, like, wow, I made it, this is awesome.”  After a final full season at Rochester in 2008, Jones signed with the Pirates as a minor league free agent. A month later, they signed Eric Hinske — also a left-handed power-hitting first baseman — to a major league deal.  Despite a strong spring training, Jones went back to the minors. He was still there when he turned 28 in June. That is past the age by which most players are considered serious prospects.  “Probably around 26 or 27, you start moving out of the prospect phase,” said Shelley Duncan, 30, who had 30 home runs and 99 R.B.I. at Class AAA last season. “People look at you like you’re — what do they call it? — a minor league lifer, or 4A. People start saying that.”  Duncan, who spent parts of the past three seasons with the Yankees, played against Jones in Class AAA. He called Jones humble and unassuming, not the kind of player to draw attention to himself. He also said he thought of Morneau every time he watched Jones hit.  “He was almost like the same type of hitter,” Duncan said. “And when he got his chance, it wasn’t a surprise to see how well he did.”  Duncan hit five home runs in his first eight major league games, then hit three in his next 60. Jones, likewise, had a hot start for the Pirates last summer, bashing 10 home runs in his first 75 at-bats after Hinske was traded June 30.  He cooled off for a bit but finished strong, and only four major leaguers hit more home runs from July 1 through the end of the season: Ryan Howard, Prince Fielder, Derrek Lee and Mark Reynolds.  “As the league adjusted to Garrett, he adjusted back,” Huntington said. “He still showed doubles power and hit some home runs. There were some encouraging signs that he may not be a one-hit wonder, because he could manipulate the barrel of the bat and hit that pitch away or handle that fastball in. There were no real glaring holes in his swing.”  Russell says Jones has a maintenance-free swing, and no leg kick or hitch with his hands that can cause a long slump. The budget-conscious Pirates think they have a middle-of-the-order slugger for just over the minimum salary, $400,000.  Jones thinks he is finally where he belongs. He does not seem bitter about his time in the minors, and said he only briefly considered what else he might do with his life; a career in law enforcement, perhaps.  “But none of it could really compare to baseball,” Jones said. “You can only play baseball so long. I’d always think, well, you’re going to have plenty of time to do something else. Just enjoy playing ball as long as I can, and when it’s over, it’s over.”  Three months short of his 29th birthday, his major league journey is just beginning.
Garrett Jones seemed to be stuck in the minors, but at age 28 he hit 21 homers in 82 games for the Pirates.