Sir Jamison Jones walked into the Nationals clubhouse yesterday like many draft picks before him. While still very young in the face, his 6-foot-2, 225-pound frame looked like it already belonged in a major league clubhouse.
While standing next to the 5-foot-11, 197-pound Luke Dickerson, the Nats’ second-round pick who also officially signed yesterday to a record bonus for a non-first-rounder, Jones looked like he was years older than his fellow high school selection.
Jones was the Nats’ 15th-round pick out of St. Rita High School in Illinois. Although he was picked in the later rounds, the 18-year-old had an idea the Nationals were interested in him after a workout with the team a month before the draft.
“I had a workout here in early June and I felt nothing but great about it,” Jones said during a joint introductory press conference with Dickerson yesterday. “I had a really strong feeling that this is a team that really, really liked me. And my agent, he ended up calling me that morning and he was like, 'Well, they have an offer and they're really interested. So this is the offer.' And I was like, you know what, yeah. That's the right opportunity. So I got the opportunity and I'm extremely happy to take it.”
Jones’ signing bonus is reportedly $500,000, which is more than the $150,000 assigned to picks taken after the 10th round. So $350,000 of his bonus counts against the Nationals’ $13,895,100 bonus pool in order to sign him away from his commitment to play at Oklahoma State University.