MINOR LEAGUE NOTEBOOK / FLORIDA STATE LEAGUE : Heavy Air Fails to Bog Down Jones’ Numbers at Dunedin

The air is heavy but the park is fair, and the 10 home runs hit by Irvine’s Ryan Jones are indicative of his burgeoning power.

In other words, it’s no fluke that Jones is highly regarded in the Toronto Blue Jays’ organization.

Jones, a right-handed first baseman, is playing in Dunedin, Fla., a member of the Blue Jays’ Class-A affiliate in the Florida State League.

And Jones, 20, has been going deep.

“At his age, he’s just beginning to develop,” Dunedin Manager Jim Nettles said. “You see him and right away, you think of Mark McGwire--red hair, big forearms. He’s not as tall, but he’s built along those lines. He could be a 30 home-run-a-year guy in the big leagues.”

Which is praise as thick as the Florida humidity for the 6-foot-3, 225-pounder who played on Irvine’s 1987 Northwood team, runner-up at the Little League World Series.

Jones, a 1993 graduate of Irvine High, was an All-Southern Section football and baseball player. He spent a short season in Medicine Hat, Canada, and had only three home runs in 171 at-bats. But in his first full season of professional baseball, 1994, Jones started to develop the way the Blue Jays hoped. He hit 18 homers and drove in 72 runs at Hagerstown, Md., in the South Atlantic League. The 18 homers was the third-best in the organization and 72 runs batted in the fourth-best.

At the all-star break last week, Jones was batting .259 with 10 home runs and 39 RBIs in 247 at-bats. And there’s good reason for the organization to think highly of him.

“He’s two years out of high school playing in a top A league,” Nettles said. “He’s like a sophomore in college playing in a league against a lot of guys two years out of college. There are a lot of kids in this league 24 years old and he’s holding his own.”

Jones’ 10 homers were second-most in the league at the all-star break. He now has 40 RBIs.

Nettles said Jones is very receptive to coaching and really came on when he shortened his big uppercut swing. He’s not missing so many good pitches, not popping up as much. In short, not struggling the way he did at Medicine Hat (.246) and Hagerstown (.239).

The fences at Dunedin Stadium are 335 feet to left field, 400 to center and a scant 315 to right, though Jones hasn’t been hitting many opposite-field homers.

“This is not a home-run league because of the heavy air, but this is a very fair ball park,” Nettles said. “The league record is only 30 home runs. If [Jones] doubles his total in the second half of the season, I would say that would be a very good total for a young kid.

“If he does well, has a good year this year, there’s no reason he can’t play double-A, and from double-A, you can go to the big leagues. I don’t think they want to move him too fast. But if he continues to have success, you have to look at him in the big leagues eventually.”

*

Cade Gaspar, a shortstop in high school, continues to make the transition to pitcher.

Gaspar, 21, played shortstop exclusively at Capistrano Valley and was “in a slump all year.” He pitched in relief only about 30 innings in two years at Saddleback College before going 6-1 in the second half of the season at Pepperdine.

He has been pitching exclusively ever since.

Taken by Detroit in the first round--No. 18 overall--of the 1994 draft, Gaspar’s professional career has gone up and down. This year at Lakeland, he is averaging nearly a strikeout an inning but is giving up nearly as many hits and a walk every two innings.

“As a young pitcher, the command is not there,” Manager Dave Anderson said. “When he has it, he’s tough; when he doesn’t have it, he walks people. He really has only pitched about two years. This is the first time I’ve had a chance to really watch him. He’s had some good outings and some poor outings. But once he gets command of his pitches, he has a good chance of pitching in the big leagues.

“From watching him, he has an above-average curve, and I’ve seen him throw an average fastball with average command and he’s been unhittable.”

But Gaspar (6-3, 180), son of former major leaguer Rod, is a tough critic, and his performances don’t always lend themselves to restful nights.

Gaspar has spent most of the last two weeks on the disabled list because of a sore shoulder, but an MRI was inconclusive. He had a 3-3 record and 3.14 earned-run average with 41 strikeouts in 43 innings before he went on the DL; he had given up 36 hits and 20 walks. He should pitch again within the week.

“I’ve got to cut down on walks,” Gaspar said. “This year my control hasn’t been up to where it was last year. It’s hell. I’m hard on myself. Even if I do well, I think I should have done better, and when I do bad, it tears me up inside.”

In his last outing, before the shoulder got sore, he pitched one inning and struck out two. The outing before that, he went 7 1/3 innings, gave up two hits and struck out nine.

And if he’s going to make the transition to pitcher, being drafted by the Tigers helped.

“It was a blessing in disguise,” Gaspar said. “This organization is the best in the big leagues to get to big leagues--it has a lot of older pitchers and there’s a youth movement.

“My expectations are high. I want to be in double-A by the end of this year, have a good spring training next year and see what happens. I don’t expect to stay in the minors very long. My goal is to get to majors as quick as possible.”

*

Brian Stephenson, son of a former major leaguer, is pitching for Daytona.

Stephenson’s father, Jerry, pitched for the Red Sox (1963-68), Pilots (‘69) and Dodgers (‘70).

Stephenson (6-3, 205) graduated from Fullerton High in 1991 and was drafted out of UCLA in 1994, the Cubs’ second-round pick.

A right-hander, Stephenson is 4-7 with a 4.40 ERA. He has pitched 77 2/3 innings, and given up 81 hits, 26 walks and struck out 67.

He opened his professional career at Williamsport in the short-season New York-Penn League in 1994, and was 0-2 with a 4.26 ERA and 13 walks in 19 innings. At Peoria (Ill.) of the Midwest League, he was 3-1 with a 3.19 ERA, but walked only six in 42 innings; he gave up 41 hits.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Florida State Road Map

The Florida State League has a direct connection to spring training, since all but two of the league’s parks also serve as spring training homes for major league teams. Here’s a look at the league, which has been a stop for such future stars as Johnny Bench, Keith Hernandez, Mike Piazza and Stan Musial.

Here are the league’s 14 teams and their major league affiliates:

A. Brevard County (Florida Marlins)

B. Charlotte (Texas Rangers)

C. Clearwater (Philadelphia Phillies)

D. Daytona (Chicago Cubs)

E. Dunedin (Toronto Blue Jays)

F. Fort Myers (Minnesota Twins)

G. Kissimmee (Houston Astros)

H. Lakeland (Detroit Tigers)

I. St. Lucie (New York Mets)

J. St. Petersburg (St. Louis Cardinals)

K. Sarasota (Chicago White Sox)

L. Tampa (New York Yankees)

M. Vero Beach (Dodgers)

N. West Palm Beach (Montreal Expos)

***

When formed: 1936. The league stopped play in 1941 because of World War II; games resumed in 1946.

Miracle men: The Fort Myers Miracle, which moved from Miami after the 1991 season to make room for the National League’s Marlins, may be best known for two of its owners: Bill Murray and Jimmy Buffett.

Dodger connection: Vero Beach’s Holman Stadium plays host to the major league Dodgers every spring, but you have to travel to Daytona Beach to visit Jackie Robinson Stadium. A statue of the Dodger great stands outside the ballpark.

Future Angel: Alex Johnson, the only member of the Angels to win an American League batting championship, finished with the Florida State League’s best batting average in 1962. He hit .313 with Miami.