Baseball

Keeping Up with The Jones
The Twins are following their leadoff man, Jacque Jones, who's been a hit at the top

During spring training Twins utilityman Denny Hocking informed leftfielder Jacque Jones, the team's newly minted leadoff hitter, that he was going to keep track of how often Jones started a game by getting on base. "I told him it should be around 50 percent," Hocking says. "I was just trying to prevent him from wasting at bats."

The 27-year-old Jones hasn't matched that goal—he had reached base 38 times in 111 first-inning leadoff plate appearances (34.2%) through Sunday—but he has certainly energized Minnesota's offense. In his first trip to the plate on Opening Day, the lefthanded-hitting Jones smacked the second pitch he saw for a home run against the Royals. Through Sunday he had hit 22 more, eight of which had also led off a game. ( Brady Anderson holds the record for single-season first-inning leadoff homers, with 12 in 1996.) Jones doesn't usually try to hit homers, but he did on that first one. "I thought that would be a good way to start the season," he says. "Other than that, they've just happened."

Not that you can tell by watching him hit: The ferocious cuts Jones takes are more appropriate for a beer leaguer than a major league leadoff man. He led the Twins in runs (85), was tied with shortstop Cristian Guzman for the team lead in hits (145) and was batting .293 at week's end. But Jones had a mere 33 walks, fewer than any other regular American League leadoff hitter except the Yankees' Alfonso Soriano, who had just 19. Jones has other similarities to Soriano—good and bad. He had 73 RBIs to Soriano's 78, and both could threaten the big league record for RBIs by a leadoff hitter (100, by the Angels' Darin Erstad in 2000). Jones also strikes out almost as much as Soriano. Jones had 107 whiffs, eighth most in the American League, while Soriano had 127, second most in the AL.

Jones's free-swinging tendencies are the reason he failed in his previous trial in the leadoff spot, as a rookie in 1999. He spent most of the last two seasons racking up strikeouts and extra-base hits in the bottom third of the Twins' order and, more often than not, sitting on the bench against lefthanded starters.

In an effort to become a more selective hitter, Jones worked out during the off-season in San Diego with future Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn. In those sessions, and in occasional follow-up phone calls, Gwynn stressed the importance of having a plan at the plate and not being afraid to work deep into the count.

That's sound advice, but when Twins manager Ron Gardenhire moved Jones back into the lead-off spot during spring training, he told Jones not to change his basic approach. "I told him, good or bad, we're going to put you up there and let you hack," says Gardenhire.

Like nearly everything else in the Twins' magical season—they were leading the AL Central by 16 games at week's end and, barring a long strike, are a lock for their first postseason appearance since 1991—Gardenhire's move has been a success. Jones still must improve his hitting against lefthanders, though; he had a .193 average in 119 at bats through Sunday.

All-Star centerfielder Torii Hunter gets most of the attention on the Twins, but Jones is coming on. He not only has made great strides at the plate, but he also may be Hunter's equal in the outfield. "It's like having two centerfielders out there," says Gardenhire. "They're fighting over balls in the gap that fall in against most teams."

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