For Jones, playing for Team Korea 'couldn’t have been a better experience'

LAKELAND, Fla. -- The Tigers have had a fair amount of representation in the World Baseball Classic. Arguably, no Detroit player got more out of it, manager A.J. Hinch suggested, than Jahmai Jones.

Hinch meant on the field. But for Jones, the impact goes well beyond that.

“It was some of the top moments in my life, not just baseball,” Jones said Monday. “I just felt like I became more well-rounded as a human being.”

In Detroit, Jones is a lefty-crushing specialist and adept pinch-hitter, a key cog in Hinch’s strategy to create and leverage advantageous matchups. But in Tokyo and then in Miami, Jones was an everyday player for Korea, representing the country where his mother was born.

His two-run homer in Korea’s WBC-opening win over Czechia was off a right-handed pitcher. So was his double to help set up a run against Australia in a game the Koreans needed to win by five to advance out of pool play. His single off Phillies All-Star lefty Cristopher Sánchez was one of just two hits for Korea in their quarterfinal loss to the Dominican Republic.

Jones played all 44 innings in Korea’s WBC run. He went 5-for-21 with two extra-base hits, two RBIs and three runs scored in five games. But the experience off the field was just as important for him as on it.

It was traveling halfway across the globe with his wife and their four-month-old daughter.

“She was great,” Jones said of how their child handled the 16-hour flight. “I feel like I’ll be able to look back upon this one day and be able to tell her, ‘Your first trip out of the country was far.’”

It was getting out of the hotel and seeing Tokyo, a city he had never visited.

“Beautiful country,” Jones said. “An amazing place to be. I would very much say you need to try to get over there at least once.”

It was playing in the atmosphere that makes Japanese baseball so special, from the songs to the chants.

“It’s such a fun environment to be a part of,” Jones said. “For nine innings, they are full-go. Doesn’t matter what the score is. Doesn’t matter the situation. If they’re up 10, down 10, if they have a pitcher come in and make an out, the crowd erupts, and it’s really cool to see.”

It was being in a clubhouse where he did not speak the prevailing language.

“Being able to be a guy in a locker room that doesn’t speak the language,” Jones said, “and getting the perspective of some of our Latin guys that don’t speak English that are over here and the challenges that they may face. Because no matter how well it's translated, you know that some stuff that gets a little lost always in the translation."

It was forming a friendship with Giants star outfielder Jung Hoo Lee, who saw Jones’ unique handshakes with teammates and wanted to try it.

“We had talked about it a little bit before, because he had seen that I had one,” Jones said. “Korean culture is very much so not that; they don’t do that. So we were laughing, and he was like, ‘We’ve got to have a handshake.’ And I’m like, ‘Oh, perfect.’ That was one thing I was nervous about, man.”

Jones returned to camp in peak form. He slotted back into the Tigers lineup batting leadoff Monday against the Phillies and posted a five-RBI game, including a bases-clearing double, in Detroit's 13-6 win.

All in all, it was better than he could’ve expected.

“I think it exceeded [expectations], honestly,” Jones said. “I don’t think people prepare you for the emotions that you feel when you’re playing in a tournament like that. I sure as heck wasn’t prepared for it, but it couldn’t have been a better experience, not only for myself but my family. It was a very emotional time, but definitely one that I’m extremely grateful for."