The highest team honor a professional athlete can achieve in their career is contributing to a championship team. In 2021, a Northern Kentuckian added that championship hardware to his trophy case.
Former Major League baseball player and current Northern Kentucky University baseball Director of Player Development Nate Jones received a World Series ring from the 2021 Atlanta Braves.
Jones played for the Braves at the start of the 2021 season. He appeared in 12 games for Atlanta, tossing 10.1 innings where he had a 3.48 ERA. The Braves released Jones on May 7, 2021.
The Braves went on to win the AL East. In the postseason, they defeated the Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Divisional Series, the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Championship Series, another franchise Jones played for during the 2021 season, and the Houston Astros in the World Series. The win earned the Braves their second World Series crown in Atlanta, their first since 1995.
“Getting to play for the Atlanta Braves was definitely something special,” Jones said. “From getting to catch a glimpse as a youngster of Tom Glavine*, Greg Maddox, John Smoltz and actually meeting and talking with Chipper Jones during the 2021 season, it was truly amazing. It was a top notch organization and made it easy to understand why Braves fans and Braves Country is so strong.”
Jones is a native of Butler, Kentucky. He played baseball for Pendleton County High School where he starred as a pitcher. Jones holds countless pitching records for the Wildcats and is widely regarded as one of the top players in program history.
After high school, Jones attended Northern Kentucky University where he pitched for the Norse. He made 16 appearances on the mound in his final season at NKU, notching a 2.88 ERA with two complete games, including one shutout. He also recorded two saves, struck out 60 batters in 56.1 innings pitched and held opposing hitters to an .185 batting average in 2007. Jones was inducted into NKU’s David Lee Holt Hall of Fame in 2019.
He was drafted by the Chicago White Sox in the 5th round of the 2007 MLB Draft. He made his way through the minor league system, eventually breaking through and earning a spot in the Majors in 2012.
He played 8 seasons for the White Sox before being traded to the Texas Rangers in July 2019. In 2020, he signed with his hometown Cincinnati Reds where he appeared in 20 games. In 2021, he played for both the Braves and the Dodgers. He announced his retirement from professional baseball in August 2021.
His most productive season came in 2016 with the White Sox where Jones went 5-3, held opponents to a .190 batting average while striking out 80 batters. Jones had a 2.29 ERA and appeared in 71 games, the most of his career.
In his MLB career, Jones made 325 appearances, tossing 329 innings with a 3.45 career ERA and 355 strikeouts. His career pitching record finished at 22-16. He notably struck out star players such as Josh Hamilton and Derek Jeter.
Jones told LINK nky he is thankful for the time he spent in Atlanta, noting he noticed the team had a hunger to win throughout his tenure there.
“Being a part of the 2021 team you could tell there was something different about that group of guys,” Jones said. “They had the hunger to win and to never be out of the fight. Watching them from afar during the postseason run was fun to do. I have nothing but pride and love for those guys and what they did. I was blessed to play a small part in it during the 2021 Championship season.”
Besides his 2021 World Series ring, Jones also earned a Gold Medal playing for Team USA where he was a relief pitcher during the 2017 World Baseball Classic.
Jones is the second Pendleton Countian to earn a World Series ring alongside Dwayne Peterson, who earned a World Series ring in 2017 as a trainer in the Houston Astros organization. He is the only Pendleton County baseball player to earn the honor.
Jones currently resides in Pendleton County with his wife Lacy and three children.
An earlier version of this story incorrectly spelled Tom Glavine’s name. LINK nky regrets the error.
