Jones grateful for Classic opportunity with Team Korea

LAKELAND, Fla. -- Jahmai Jones’ role on the Tigers is to hit left-handed pitching. It’s how he transitioned from a non-roster invite last Spring Training to a fixture on the roster down the stretch last year and into the postseason. It’s a role that earned him a spot on Team Korea for the World Baseball Classic. Still, when the first pitcher he faced in camp on Friday was Tarik Skubal, it was a tall task.

Jones walked away from the batter’s box shaking his head after striking out. He could end up facing some of the best pitching Japan has to offer in a few weeks, but it probably won’t compare with the pitches he faced on Day 1. He wouldn’t want it any other way.

“Facing the best pitcher in baseball? Are you kidding me? If you want to know where you're at, face the best,” he said.

Jones had his game face on from the outset Friday morning. It wasn’t just about facing Skubal, but about preparing for the Classic. Representing Korea, his mother’s birthplace, is a big deal for him, and something he had set as a goal a year ago.

“It's probably one of the single most important things I've done in baseball, truthfully,” Jones said Sunday. “I love my mom to death. We've been through a lot as a family. Being able to do this for her, also for myself, to be able to represent a country, it means everything to me. It truly does.

“I don't know if I understand the weight of it yet, and I probably won't until I get there. But all the emotions I had throughout this offseason of hearing that it was a possibility, getting traction, getting told I was on the provisional [roster] and then hearing it finally. My wife and I were going crazy. It was just a really cool moment to have, to share with my family.”

Jones, one of just four American-born players on the Korea roster, will be in camp with the Tigers until late February. He’ll fly to Japan, where Korea will play a couple of exhibition games before opening pool play against Czechia on March 5 at Tokyo Dome.

The pool includes host Japan as well as Australia and Chinese Taipei. The latter roster includes Tigers infield prospect Hao-Yu Lee, who sits just a few lockers over from Jones in the Tigers’ Spring Training clubhouse. Lee conducts interviews with help from an interpreter, but their trash talk has been in clear English.

“We've been doing a lot of it,” Jones said with a laugh. “He's not quiet. Don't let him fool you. If he wants to talk trash, he'll talk trash very well. It's been good. Every day we kind of joke around, and we're both very excited about it. I told him if I meet him in center field, I'll give him a hug if we're both playing, but right when the game starts, don't expect any preferential treatment. We're trying to stomp you.”

Once that’s over, they’ll go back to being Tiger teammates. And Jones will go back to filling the role that made him a familiar face and clutch performer in Detroit last summer.

“It kind of feels the same as last year,” Jones said. “I'm still coming in trying to battle. The job stays the same. I still have to put together a good camp and a good showing. Obviously what I was able to do last year to help the team, it was huge. I learned a lot. I don't feel as foreign in this locker room as I did coming in last year. But I still feel like the job's the same. I've still gotta go out there and bust my tail and do what I need to do. But definitely feels a lot better coming into a familiar environment rather than going into a new camp.”