Devin Jones received a deal too good to pass up.
The former Mississippi State pitcher agreed to terms Tuesday on a professional contract with the Baltimore Orioles, who selected him earlier this month in the ninth round of the Major League Baseball First-Year Player draft.
Jones will receive a signing bonus expected to be $97,500. He”ll have incentives in his contract that will alter the value of his deal as he moves through Baltimore”s minor league system. The Orioles also will pay for three years of school.
Jones will sign his contract Friday.
“It was pretty hard (decision), especially after we went to a Super Regional and got so close to a College World Series,” Jones said. “I was with a group of guys that hung in there together, and I feel like each and every one of them was my brother. But once I saw that the money was right and that school was right, I felt like it was time to go to pursue my pro career.”
Pending a physical, Jones will head to Florida for a 10-day mini camp, where Orioles officials are expected to evaluate him in the bullpen. From there, his first destination will be Aderdeen, Md., where he”ll have his first assignment with the IronBirds in the Class A short-season league.
Jones, a 6-foot-3, 180-pound junior right-hander from Eupora, went 2-5 this season. He started eight of the 19 games he played and pitched the third-most innings on the team (59 2/3). He allowed 59 hits, walked 26, and struck out 49.
Jones was 2-4 with a 8.16 ERA as a sophomore. He pitched in 22 games (two starts) and had 29 strikeouts in 28 2/3 innings.
Most players drafted in the first 10 rounds often don”t risk returning to school and facing the prospect of dropping to a later round in the next draft. It”s believed players have less leverage in negotiating a contract once their college career is finished.
While that notion played a factor in Jones” decision to leave MSU a year early, he felt like he”d received enough quality coaching to be a competitive professional right away.
“I”ve grown through these three years of school, no doubt,” said Jones, who was drafted in the 49th round out of Eupora High. “Out of high school, I didn”t think twice — I always wanted to go to Mississippi State. The only way I would have not come to State is if I would have been in the top three rounds. I”m very fortunate to have gone to MSU, and that”s one of the best decisions I made in my life. If I would have went out of high school, I wouldn”t been as prepared and to the level I am now.”
While Jones” ERA dropped by nearly four runs from his sophomore season to junior season, he struggled with his command in the middle of the 2011 campaign and ultimately lost his job as the team”s Friday night starter.
Jones rebounded toward the end of the year, giving up just two earned runs in his final 10 2/3 relief innings. His 5 1/3 shutout innings in MSU”s win against LSU helped seal a bid to the Southeastern Conference tournament.
“I feel like my season was up and down, but very player is gonna go through that — it”s baseball,” Jones said. “I think I kind of got away from being aggressive in the strike zone a little bit, trying to pick at batters. I should have went right at them, especially with the new bat regulations to let them put the ball in play. I was trying to get weaker contact and more strikeouts. But those outings, I didn”t ponder on them, and I think that what made me have some success late in the season.”
Despite Jones” up-and-down season, MSU coach John Cohen marveled at Jones” natural ability. Whether it was his velocity of his fastball or the progression of his slider, Cohen knew it was a matter of time before Jones put it all together.
“This has happened to me about four or five times as an assistant and a head coach, a kid who really doesn”t have great, great success in college and they become 25 or 26 years old and they become a big-leaguer,” Cohen said earlier this year. “Devin is special, and you”d love to just pinpoint one thing but you can”t. His preparation and his bullpens are just masterful; you keep going, wow, if this happens in a game he”s gonna blow people away.”
Jones was one of four Bulldogs selected in the draft and the only underclassmen selected. He will be the fifth Bulldog to sign a pro contract since the end of the season.
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