Posted by Jtpsops on 5/1/2013 10:54:00 PM (view original):
Someone needs to grow some balls and put Jones in his place. Because he tries hard and has talent, he seems to be given a free pass for his bonehead plays. That's the third time this year he's taken a terrible route to a ball and ended up trying to reach back behind his head to make the catch, only to have the ball bounce off/out of his glove.
His plate discipline is infuriating too. You can tell he's adapted to that outside breaking pitch - he's always leaning in and looking for it now. The problem is that he still flails at it anyway. Here's a thought Adam - if you know the pitch is going out there, how about you let it go for a ball instead of trying to prove you're good enough to hit it?
Jones is a really good ballplayer. He could be one of the best in the league if he had a mature head on his shoulders.
Does we know that AJ plays hard or do we just say he does because he talks the talk? He's always talking about giving 100% on Twitter and in interviews but when you watch him everyday, things don't seem to match up. Coasting to fly balls, not running out grounders and not being able to lay off the low and away slider are bits of evidence against his constant "#StayHungry" campaign.
Originally I thought that his impeccable athleticism caused people to think he was loafing because he made the tough plays look so effortless. Over the years I've started to question that as it appears that AJ can, at times, be more concerned with looking cool than making plays.
Living in the Baltimore/DC area I know for a fact that Bryce Harper plays hard every time he takes the field. Comparing Harper and AJ from an effort standpoint isn't even close IMO. So I don't think we can say for a fact that AJ tries hard every play of every game and as fans we need to pay all of our attention to his actions on the field instead of listening to his constant barrage of apologies and tweets about what he's planning on doing.