Jones mulls over signing decision

By TREVOR ZION BAUKNIGHT
Item Sports Writer
TBauknight@theitem.com

With the possibility of playing professional baseball now in front of him after he was drafted by the Chicago Cubs organization in the ninth round of the Major League Baseball First-Year Players draft on Wednesday, The Citadel's Richard Jones said he'd take a week or two to decide what he will do.

His alternative is to return for his senior season with the Bulldogs after putting together an All-American season as a junior and tying that school's single-season home run record at 17.

It's a big decision.

"I'm not even close to reaching a decision right now. It's going to be a week or two before I decide, I'm pretty sure," said Jones, a former standout catcher for both Wilson Hall and the Sumter American Legion P-15's. "There's a lot of negotiations and stuff that has to take place. It's stuff I don't like to deal with, but it's a lot of stuff.

"I'd love to play pro ball, but then again, my education is important," Jones added. "It's still totally up in the air right now, whether I will sign or not. It all plays into it -- money, your degree -- there are plenty of factors that play into it."

Jones, the 290th pick overall in the ninth round, said the draft went about how he expected it would.

"We kind of had an idea going into it, and we were about right with everything," he said. "It turned out to work out well."

Jones said that despite the gaudy numbers he put up as a junior at the Citadel -- he hit .378 for the Bulldogs with 69 runs batted in, 54 runs scored and had 95 hits, good for 12th in the nation -- he didn't think another year at the Citadel would be a setback, barring injuries or a slump.

"Really, it doesn't matter," he said. "You are the player you are, and they kind of know what's going to happen to you. It would be no different (next year)."

For now, Jones is content playing for the Thomasville, N.C. Hi Toms of the wood bat Coastal Plain League, which also features the Columbia Blowfish. He leads the team in home runs with two and in runs batted in with seven.