Episode Transcript
[00:00:02] Speaker A = KELLY WALKER: Welcome to Hustle and Pro. I'm your host, Kelly Walker. On today's episode, we talk to Frisco Rough Rider outfielder Keith Jones II. Keith came into the Texas Rangers baseball organization in 2024. Enjoy this episode of Hustle and Pro.
[00:00:19] Speaker B = KEITH JONES II: Keith Jones II.
[00:00:20] Speaker A: Keith Jones II. All right, well, thanks for doing this. Tell me. Let's start off with something easy. What was your. What did your offseason look like?
[00:00:27] Speaker B: Off season was first month, gave myself a little bit of a break. So a lot of golf, a lot of getting the eating habits right. So I'm not in season mode. Just calories, calories, calories.
The next month, though, is when we kind of started attacking. So it was a lot of working out, a lot of mobility sessions, a lot of stretching.
Then kind of December ish, started attacking, hitting again, getting back on the field, doing some defensive work.
Then it looked like that through until we got to spring training training.
Speaker A: Do you let how you left off at the end of last season dictate anything of your off season? Like, if you're on a. If you're on a hitting momentum and you're doing well, or do you just. Is it a fresh start?
[00:01:16] Speaker B: It's a bit of both. This was my second pro year, but first time after a full season, so I definitely listened to the body and knew I needed a break. So it was like a complete shutdown, which is why there was a lot of golf.
But it told me there needed to be a little bit of a shutdown to recover.
[00:01:36] Speaker C: Re. Energize. Get the mind right. But then you do take a little bit, like, I got to end the season a little good. I remember the year before the first. My first year is, like, a little bad. It was okay, what do we need at Taiwan? But last year was like, okay, you know, we had a little bit of struggles, but then we ended the season the last couple weeks, like, okay, like, we're feeling good again.
[00:01:57] Speaker A: So mentally, that's got to be a good way to.
[00:01:59] Speaker B: It was. It was so mentally, it was just like, okay, like, I understand what I can do from this aspect. So what do I need to attack? What's the very big emphasis going to the off season and then answer those questions and then move forward from that. So it does dictate it a little bit, but not a lot.
[00:02:14] Speaker A: Like, do you set specific offensive goals now going into this season?
[00:02:17] Speaker B: Season? Yes. Yeah, I do. I definitely do.
[00:02:20] Speaker A: You say those out loud? What are your.
[00:02:22] Speaker B: Absolutely. I mean, I would Say, like at the plate, I mean, I want to be the best competitor I can be. That's easily just going into it. Like, my goal is to make every at bat. I'm the toughest out that you've ever faced. That's my biggest goal. But of course I got, you know, hitting the baseline, the hidden 320 homers, the things like that are goals, but ultimately the biggest one is just, can I be the best competitor I am every night at the plate?
[00:02:50] Speaker A: How do you work on your defensive technique in the off season?
[00:02:54] Speaker B: A lot of for me this year, it was a lot of groundwork. So, you know, I watch a lot of the infielders and how they attack balls on the ground, getting off the machine, small glove, little things like that. I mean, honestly, if you look at it, you go back to being a kid and just me going up against the wall and just glove and, you know, getting the short hop, picking your hops, like when you can round balls hit at you. So it was a lot of that. And of course, as an outfitter, getting outside, getting some fly balls when I can, things like that.
[00:03:23] Speaker A: All right, I can relate to this. I've heard you talk about the impact of your family, like your dad. I heard you mention your grandpa earlier.
I love that because that's why I love baseball as well. So tell me just a little bit about, like that impact on your baseball.
[00:03:37] Speaker B: Yeah, my dad, he's everything.
A lot of people, you know, for me, I got the choice of everything. And they say I've always gravitated baseball. I said I was 2 years old and all I wanted to do was just hit the baseball. Like I used to just run, grab the ball, had a little wolf ball bat. I'd hit it, run and grab the ball, toss it back to him. We'd do that for hours and upon hours. But no, man, he's been my biggest supporter through this. It's been a pretty long journey for me. It's thing hasn't really been an easy one, and he's been right by my side every step of the way, believing in me, telling me that I can do it, reinforcing that. I mean, I know that if I ever lose confidence in myself, which won't happen, but I got him behind me with just enough confidence in me that I can do it.
So he's impacted that completely. I mean, he was the first person, you know, anytime, even now, if I need to go play catch, he's the first person up to, you know, he got bad shoulders right now, but he'll find a way. If he has to walk the ball to me all the way back and just go back and catch it, he'll do it. You know, I think at one point this season, I had a bucket, and he was just sitting there catching and tossing it in the other bucket. So he's always there for me to support, to help me out when he can, to do it all.
[00:04:44] Speaker A: So that's really special. That's. That's awesome. You're lucky.
I watched a broadcast when he was being interviewed, and you happened to hit a grand slam while he's talking to the broadcaster. So that was really cool to see. Let's talk about these grand slams.
So these are two career grand slams each season, or is this.
[00:05:06] Speaker B: No, they're both last season.
[00:05:07] Speaker A: They were both last season. Okay. Just two teams.
[00:05:09] Speaker B: Yeah, two teams.
[00:05:10] Speaker A: Okay. So you. You tell me about these grand slams.
[00:05:13] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, the first one was pretty special. It got to be ended up having to be the first one in Spartan Burger history. So that was super cool. Of course, my dad in the booth. That's everybody's favorite part about it.
Yeah. I mean, it just. It just happened. Everybody, you know, it's just, you know, you're at the plate. I'm looking for a good pitch to hit, and I happened to run one a little more, but both of them were just situations where I got a pitch that I was looking for and I was able to do damage to, you know, and both were great. The last one was the last week of the season here.
[00:05:42] Speaker A: Here at Riders Field. Where was that?
[00:05:45] Speaker B: I hit it over peak Porch, so actually, I went the other way to that one. I went left center.
[00:05:50] Speaker A: Yeah, left center.
[00:05:52] Speaker A: How far.
[00:05:53] Speaker A: Do you know how far your home runs go?
[00:05:54] Speaker B: I don't.
[00:05:55] Speaker A: You don't?
[00:05:56] Speaker B: As soon as they go over the fence, I'm like, all right, that's good.
[00:05:58] Speaker A: That's all that matters.
[00:05:58] Speaker B: Take that.
[00:05:59] Speaker A: That's all that matters.
[00:06:01] Speaker B: Yeah, no, it's. It was pretty special, both of them. I had family here. I mean, the second one was pretty special, too, because I actually have my trainer here and some extended family who are coming to see me for the first time out here. So that one was super special as well.
[00:06:14] Speaker A: Maybe that's your thing. Maybe you like the. The audience, the pressure of your close. Of your loved ones watching you want to show up.
[00:06:22] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:06:22] Speaker A: Is that confidence?
[00:06:23] Speaker B: It is. Yeah, it is. It is.
[00:06:26] Speaker A: So coming here, then midway or. Yes. Last year, how do you like this ballpark? How do you like this town?
How do you like Being around here,
[00:06:35] Speaker B: I love it, you know, love Spartanburg. It was great to me. But it's nice to be back in the city. I am easily a city boy.
I like being out in the boonies when I'm by myself. But during the season it's definitely a lot nicer to be around in the city and have a little bit more to do. Especially when it gets like off days, things like that.
[00:06:54] Speaker A: You don't get many of those.
[00:06:55] Speaker B: Yeah, you don't get many. So it's nice that I don't have to drive 45 minutes to get somewhere and maybe go get some nice things to eat. I knock at Spartanburg, y' all got nice places to eat, but like, you know, five minutes down the road here, you know, I don't gotta go to Greenville or go.
[00:07:10] Speaker A: What's your go to?
Like, you know, not, not game day or not practice day. Oh, go get something to eat.
[00:07:17] Speaker B: Just like a good dinner. Yeah, good dinner. Ah, I love me a steak. So I'm definitely like.
To a steakhouse.
[00:07:25] Speaker A: Knew you were gonna say steak.
[00:07:28] Speaker B: I'm. I'm going to a steakhouse. I'm gonna give me some, some good sign sides, whatever the premium is.
I do like some seafood on a good off day. I, I'm not gonna lie, I do.
[00:07:38] Speaker A: Because where are you from?
[00:07:38] Speaker B: A little boy from California. Yeah, so I got a little bit of everything California. So yeah, I got my days.
[00:07:43] Speaker A: I want some Mexican, I got some
[00:07:45] Speaker B: days, some surf and turf, all that.
[00:07:47] Speaker A: So. All right, I. I heard just now you play this other sport. So tell me about this. I feel like it's an obscure sport. You probably don't since it's your thing. And how long have you been bowling?
[00:08:01] Speaker B: Bowling for me is so it was my first relief before I got into golf. I started bowling sophomore year of high school.
We actually had a bowling class at our school.
So it started as that and then all my friends back in school, like that was just our hangout. Like it started as just a random. We were in the class. It was either my sophomore or junior year. And I took it like the next two, three years, but I can't even remember advanced bowling.
[00:08:31] Speaker B: Bowling. Yeah, right.
[00:08:33] Speaker A: But it is a good hangout sport. I mean, you're talking and chilling and
[00:08:37] Speaker B: that's what we did. I mean we came to. We used to get like discounted games and the weekends hit. We were.
They're bowling before we went out and party and everything. We were at the bowling alley for two, three hours.
Especially our senior year before. Once we got that curfew lifted, we'd go catch the late night, and we'd be at the bowling alley all night. Man, it was just our thing. So it started out as. I mean, it's competition. So, yeah, we're all friends and we're just playing and then.
[00:09:01] Speaker A: And that one person, scoreboard.
[00:09:05] Speaker B: Next thing you know, this person's scoring better than me. They getting now you buying balls and all that. And then we come. We all came. We were all pretty much baseball players and everything, so.
[00:09:13] Speaker A: So you're now, like, when you move around baseball, like, when you move and settle into your new place, there's a bowling ball. Like, you have.
[00:09:19] Speaker B: Like, I have my bowling ball with me, and I got my golf club. Keeping those with me 24 7. They're going to be on me because the smoke will be handed out whenever. When anybody wants it, the smoke will be in hand.
[00:09:30] Speaker A: I love it. That's great. As we go into this season, I'm here a lot. Like, not all the 70 games that are here, but I'm here a lot.
What should I look forward to with you out there on the field? What am I gonna see?
[00:09:44] Speaker B: Okay, you're gonna see some excitement. We'll see some fireworks.
It'll happen every once in a while. We'll have some big moments where I show up. But expect to see somebody that's gonna put the ball in play, that's gonna score some runs, that's gonna get the fans going a little bit. All that, like, that's what I do. That's what I'm known for, and I'm gonna do it.
[00:10:04] Speaker A: Thanks for joining us for this episode of Hustle and Pro. Subscribe on YouTube and check us out on Instagram and we'll see you next episode.
