Raymond Jones described it as “a freak accident.”
He was playing left field in a summer league game in 2016 after his junior season at Cal State East Bay.
On a shallow fly ball beyond shortstop, he made a head-first dive. The center fielder slid, and his teammate’s knee connected with Jones’ left cheek.
His cheekbone “caved in.” He broke his orbital bone and a bone in his jaw.
Jones underwent reconstructive surgery that day, with three plates — above his eye, under his eye near his cheek and just above his jaw — and 20 screws inserted.
Jones was relegated to a liquid diet for three months.
He took a medical hardship waiver for what would have been his senior season before undergoing another surgery 11 months later to remove the hardware.
Since recovering from that second operation, Jones has experienced no ill effects, including hitting a team-high .367 as a redshirt senior in 2018 at East Bay.
The 25-year-old from San Diego entered Saturday night against St. Paul hitting .333 with five RBIs in eight games with the RailCats.
And he has impressed manager Greg Tagert.
“He’s a very good player with a lot of potential,” Tagert said of Jones. “His strengths aren’t our normal strengths in terms of defense — he’s solid with room to grow.
“But what he’s done with the bat since he’s joined us has been exceptional. He’s handled it very well against both left-handers and right-handers and some upper-level pitching. He’s given us consistency every time he’s been in there.”
Tagert had Jones on the radar for a year. His name kept popping up as Tagert researched undrafted college seniors in 2018.
At East Bay, Jones played in the California Collegiate Athletic Association, a Division II league that has produced several successful players for the RailCats, including first baseman Alex Crosby.
“We look not only at players with winning backgrounds, but we also look at players coming out of certain conferences,” Tagert said. “There’s something to that.”
After Jones made his pro debut last season by hitting .342 with nine homers and 41 RBIs with Napa in the Pacific Association, Tagert made his way from his home in Sacramento to watch Jones play in January in a Cal State East Bay alumni game.
Jones’ two at-bats and a nice running catch in right field caught Tagert’s attention.
Tagert recommended Jones play for the Black Sox, a traveling team, to continue to gain experience.
So in March, Jones headed to Florida for that team’s spring training, and wound up playing a dozen exhibition games, including against Frontier League and American Association teams in the Midwest.
The RailCats’ last exhibition game was against the Black Sox. Jones again stood out, but the RailCats didn’t have a roster spot in their outfield.
Jones went back to Napa for a second season, going through that team’s spring training and preparing for the opener.
With John Price suffering a broken hand and following Edgar Corcino having his contract purchased by the Boston Red Sox organization, Tagert reached out to Jones to offer a job.
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“He was first on our list,” Tagert said of Jones.
The call from Tagert came from Winnipeg late on May 30, with Jones set to play his season opener with Napa the next night.
Jones started in center field and led off, going 2-for-3 with two walks to contribute to a win before catching a morning flight on June 1 to join the RailCats in Kansas City.
“I’m happy with how I’ve started here,” Jones said. “I just have to keep building.”