Playing professional baseball in Japan was a pleasant experience for former MLB All-Star Adam Jones.
“I was new to the country, and new with the organization,” Jones told The Epoch Times of his two seasons playing for the Orix Buffaloes of Nippon Professional Baseball’s Pacific League. “I wanted to fit in with my new teammates. We’re all in a professional environment, and it was up to me to adapt to their culture.”
Traveling overseas, after 14 seasons with three MLB clubs, the decision to sign a two-year contract in a league completely foreign to him at age 35 was a risk Jones was willing to take. Signing in December of 2019, right before the COVID-19 pandemic would be dominating worldwide headlines, Jones was all in to join the 12-team Japanese league. Playing pro ball at 17 years old, after being drafted in the first-round by the Seattle Mariners in 2003 out of Samuel F.B. Morse High School in San Diego, California, Jones had logged 1,823 MLB games at the conclusion of the 2019 season.
Playing for the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2019, when the club’s schedule came to a close that September, Jones was looking to stay in the game, but clearly needed a new atmosphere to rekindle his successful ways on the diamond. Five times an All-Star, four times a Rawlings Gold Glove Award winner, and a Silver Slugger Award winner as among the three best offensive American League outfielders in 2013, expectations were high from Jones and his new employers in Osaka, Japan.
What Jones set out to do in 2020 wasn’t anything new. Since the 1960s, more than 600 Americans have gone on play pro ball in Japan. Having American teammates, and a close friend who lived the challenge of exiting MLB organizations for the uncertainty of a league offering many potential obstacles helped smooth the transition for Jones.
“Wladmir Balentien has been my friend since 2003 when we both played rookie ball for the Mariners in the Arizona League. He put in 11 seasons in Japan, starting in 2011. After talking with Waldmir and other friends, me and my wife thought it would be something cool and we decided to take on the challenge,” Jones said of what would total 159 games during the 2020 and 2021 Buffaloes seasons.
Aside from receiving glowing reviews of what life would be like living and continuing his baseball career in Japan, each club in Nippon Professional Baseball could have as many as four foreign players on their active rosters. Pitchers Brandon Dickson, Steven Moya, and Tyler Higgins were on the 2020 Orix roster with Jones that assisted in the acclimation process.
Jones tells of wanting to remain Stateside for the 2020 MLB season. However, with an attractive contract offered, the 11-season Baltimore Oriole put his ego aside and decided to be just a ball player in a new league. Once arriving for training camp in Osaka, Jones remembers that experience comparable to playing instructional League ball in America.
“I put my work in. I wasn’t able to fulfill all the exercises the coaches had asked of me. My body wasn’t allowing it. At 35, our manager (Norifumi Nishimura), we called him ”Fuji,“ was extremely understanding in how to use me. I had a great time in Japan, but at the same time I knew the inevitable was coming.”
Jones realized that after the two-year deal with Orix expired, he would no longer play the game. While with the Buffaloes, Jones mentored teammates who had aspirations to join the MLB ranks. Buffaloes pitching sensations Yoshinobu Yammamoto, then 21-years-old as Jones’s teammate, signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2024. In the 2021 season, Buffaloes teammate of Jones Masataka Yoshida signed in December 2022 with the Boston Red Sox.
While living in Japan, Jones was anxious to learn Japanese culture, and to explore as much of the country that he could.
“I never felt like an outsider,” says Jones. “While I was over there I had my own translator. I also took my teammates out for dinners and wanted to bring my customs to them.”
Today, Jones remains active with the Orioles’ organization. Jones this past January signed on as a special adviser to the Orioles’ general manager and as a community ambassador for the club. He is also active with B.A.T. (Baseball Assistance Team). He is one of 17 members of B.A.T. who visits clubs during spring training to spread the word of what the organization offers to members of the baseball family. Those who are in need of financial, medical, or psychological assistance can qualify for a one time payment, to help bridge them through difficult times, and get them back on their feet.
Since making his MLB debut in 2006 with the Mariners, Jones’s presence has come full circle. He is now giving back to the game that has given him so much. Through his generosity to baseball’s future generation, Jones is making the game stronger.
