A Day In The Life Of MiLB Player Thomas Jones A Outfielder In The Miami Marlins Org. Drafted In 2016

Here Thomas Jones Miami Marlins third round pick in 2016. I'm here in Greenville, South Carolina here at Knights Performance Factory About to get a good workout in today on this good Friday, and this is the day in life for me. Let's get it I'm Ryan Mackey co-owner of Knights Performance Factory And we've been working with Thomas Jones for a couple years now and a lot of other Minor League and Major League Baseball players and today's session with us being roughly a month out Yeah, we'll see what happens with the lockout things like that We are now kind of in our last block of our offseason work. So we had an upper day today So we did a lot of started with some upper body strength with the banded press and we did upper body plyometrics with the med ball Chest press then we went into a super set of a push pull through the upper body So it's not a lot of work. We try to de-escalate the intensity throughout the week So our tougher days are earlier in the week And then we tend to tone it down just a little bit as we go into the weekend The guys are starting to hit they're starting to throw bullpens a little more frequently So we don't want to wear them out in the gym But maintain a lot of the hard work that we did in blocks one and two at the end of the 2021 so we're getting the guys prepped feeling pretty good about where they are and Hopefully they can get into camps and big league and be ready to go Um, so basically growing up with me like baseball was kind of like a secondary secondary sport for me So it was like always football and basketball where I was from Like baseball like you were just athletic enough to play baseball But I kind of like I started playing baseball like with t-ball which you would say like five Then from there like I could run like really really fast like growing up So like I just started playing baseball like I blended a lot it was like basically like um Like each year old like I would watch him play like how he would step out the box and just drag the bat That's what I love. So he would just fly down the base pad So, um, but I started I really got in love with it like baseball because I was faster than most people and um, basically Like also being from South Carolina you had Chipper Jones and Andrew Jones So they basically and of course my last name is Jones So they didn't kind of inspire me to play baseball a little bit more because like, you know Just seeing them play Andrew Jones like he would go get everything in the outfit And I was like, so I was like, yeah, like I'm that's that's the sport I'm always played but I always played football basketball and baseball But baseball seemed to have like a upper hold to me like coming up as a kid. I would say So, yeah, so basically I'm coming out of high school I committed and signed to Brownsville. And so the crazy thing about that is like I also have football in play. So, um Actually Brownsville football team offered me before the baseball team, but I wasn't in contact with Corbin or not So I ended up so I was mainly a baseball player, but football was still on the line to do both But I'm just going into it had a pretty good senior year in baseball season. And so I decided I'm Going to go to the Marlins once I got drafted but um like I said that was a really tough decision for me personally because like my whole life like like how it's probably like from my aunts to my uncle's cousins like Everybody is in like the edge of like educational like department Like I have like professors in my family a bunch of teachers like it's always so crazy So like growing up it was always like education first education first Like they don't care less about like athletics like really it's funny I say that but um, so it was super hard for me but I just felt like you know, that was a That was a decision for me to like, you know, go ahead and get a head start and things, you know Cuz I know it was a it was a big, you know It's a big jump cuz you're a kid still, you know, I was 18 that time just turned 18, you know But it was a big jump I know I was gonna play guys 10 times better than me and I did you know But I felt like it was something that I really wanted to do. I still don't regret that decision I really love the decision I made but um at the same time Vanderbilt was a great school and that's the That was basically why I chose to go to Vanderbilt not because you know Just all the the baseball because they know they win a lot and that's another reason why I went but also just because like if I was to get a degree from Vanderbilt like that would also be you know, a good thing as well So that's kind of one of the big things It kind of went a decision of me like, you know Don't choose a Vanderbilt but also going pro just like, you know, I look at it's like this was always a dream of mine so why not tackle it first thing I would say my one of my favorite like baseball memories is like Man let me oh, yeah. This is like by far one of the funniest things that happened to me 2018. We were in Want to say Delmarva? I want to say Delmarva. So it's funny. So like we're on the bus whatever and the guys like, you know because we're in a gym bus and like after we go to the gym bus we have like you go to like we can go to places to eat or whatever and And so, you know all the Dominican guys, they're on the bus with me and whatnot and they're like, yeah They're like, can they call me Jonesy? They're like Jonesy Jonesy. Um, it's this place down the street Popeye's really good chicken Oh, they say Popeye's, really good Popeye's. I'm like Popeye's? What is Popeye's? So they go to Popeye's whatever what they call it and um, I end up going to like Chick-fil-a So we get to the clubhouse and this guy like he buys a big bucket of chicken So he get back. Hey, Jonesy Jonesy, come get some Popeye's. I look at the box like you mean Popeye's? I'm like bro, Popeye's? No, this is Popeye's. No, Popeye's is popular. You got it You got it, but that's by far the funniest like I remember like if somebody asked me something about baseball like That's something I bring up. It's like it's not even in the game It's just something like about that like in the clubhouse is joking around But that's by far the funniest thing to me and I was like I always get a kick out of there every time I think about it So this year like this offseason I'm mainly I'm just basically trying to work on like when it comes like the hitting department like just trying to like keep my focus I'm staying up the middle of the field cuz I'll feel myself a lot that kind of like pulling off a little bit You know just trying to keep my hands tight Staying really whippy and stuff just working through the middle of field and backside knowing that I still have power backside I'm not just really worried about pulling the ball a lot. Um and main thing one thing about in the weight room I would say it's like um not really like trying to work out my small muscle So like you might um like working like, you know Shoulder care and staying loose so I can have that longevity throughout the season because that's one thing You know, we're we're not you know in the training room you on the field So that's one thing like I really work on just a small muscles building those up and staying loose as possible That's like my biggest thing being loose cuz like, you know, we're on your feet you doing stuff You gotta stay loose post especially your legs, you know, like I said, that's one of my biggest skills I can run so I have to keep everything loose down down below So if I keep that loose I can stay on the field longer and just continue to play and get better Man like everybody has a superstition but mine is crazy cuz like, you know, it's about the cleats I wear and um So like one thing about me is like, you know If I face the guys for instance like if we played a play the team, you know We played against their starting pitcher and I might have had two hits off of them or whatever and I had Some all-white cleats on the cleats. I had of course next time we face I'm wearing I'm putting back on the same cleats Like, you know, I gotta do that. But also if I didn't do well, you know if I had a got a game You know Monday Tuesday and I had some cleats on Monday It's like I don't make click it like I gotta change it up the next day like that's at home on the road That's it's weird But I gotta do that cuz it's like like bro Like I don't know it's like it could just be me but sometimes like I'm more times not where it work It's weird. Like I would change the cleats. I'm like, oh dang like I am doing better It's like man, it must be the shoes or something. But that's that's that's a one weird thing about me Um, I would say one of my biggest things growing up that it was actually funny my dad actually told me he was like when You play you cannot measure yourself off results. That's one thing you cannot do You can measure yourself out how hard you play that day The type of effort you gave and just kind of teammate you are so after you told me that and I had to really Really like sit down and kind of look myself in the mirror Like that's one thing I started to really like base my game off of Just kind of the effort I put in the work because like I said like baseball This is a hard game. It's an extremely hard game So you can't beat yourself up every day because in the game baseball, you're gonna gonna fail more than succeed So every day you just got to go at it and think about like the good things you did and try to try to copy and paste those things and you know You got to keep a good a good mindset, especially because it's so it's so hard to get down on yourself But also like, you know the positive things try to keep those for a very long time And one thing now that I'm in this game, you know Coaches that have that are played in the big league. They always tell me, you know, you gotta stay like this You gotta stay afloat. You know, you can't get too high. You can't get too low and I think that's probably One of the most like truest things I've ever heard because it's like the days you get too low man It's feel like nothing's ever gonna change and when you get too high is like then you hit get low It's like dang what so I was just I just hit a home run yesterday and I'm straight I'm struck out four times a day. It's like bro Just stay right there even kill even kill, you know, you got that if you come in with a smile leave with a smile So it's like I say stay even kill 50-50 and it'll be a good baseball player. I promise Good early but great swing. I think you were early but still great swing Started a day off this morning on a nice performance factory got a little good workout in man Great work man for my dude Ryan up there a few other pro players Then head over here to hit house where I hit with my guy Bennett great person great person in the upstate Don't be somewhere big in the next few years. I really feel like but get me right so we worked on a little bit of Front toss and the machine work just basically trying to stay middle of the field backside with a little out of half Fastballs away, but that was really main main thing today and just kept it light since Friday and back at it Monday Full mode. Thank you