Baseball has long been Caleb Jones’ favorite sport. His family had a hunch that would be the case when he was a toddler, as he would routinely throw things around the house.
But when Jones began playing baseball at an early age, he had a valid reason to be discouraged from pursuing the sport long-term.
Jones was born with one hand as a result of a birth defect, a disability that the now-Prairie junior has spent his life working with.
“All my life I’ve always had to work a little bit harder than other kids with learning how to do things like baseball and other day-to-day things,” Jones said.
His hard work has paid off, as he’s a key contributor for the Falcons.
On a sunny, warm and windy Monday, he struck out three batters and gave up two hits in two relief innings during Prairie’s 9-6 win over Fort Vancouver in the 3A Greater St. Helens League game at Fort Vancouver High School.
Each pitch is meticulous. He places his right-handed glove on his left hand, then places the glove over his left arm and curls it toward his chest. After releasing a pitch, he switches the glove back to his right hand — and repeats.
If the batter hits the ball in his direction he lunges for it with his bare right hand — unless it’s a line drive, for fear of breaking his hand.
Last week he caught an infield pop fly with his bare hand, then tossed the ball to home plate to complete a double play.
Typically, though, Jones has learned to trust his teammates to provide defensive support.
“He’s done a real good job for us,” Prairie coach Don Freeman said. “Pitching is one of the places that if you don’t have a hand, you can still excel. And he’s taken that role on pretty well.”
Jones is at the point now that he is comfortable joking about his arm with teammates and peers at school.
But he wasn’t always so secure.
In elementary school fellow students seldom understood his disability, he said, and as a result he struggled fitting in.
“I had a really rough time,” Jones said, “because at that age you don’t know what it is and most kids thought it was weird.”
With the help of a friend he persisted. Socially, middle and high school, were easier on Jones.
Especially the baseball team.
“I think it’s cool that Caleb has the disability and he’s still out here playing as hard as he can, pitching, still hits with only one hand,” Prairie catcher Connor Smith said. “He’s always working hard every day in practice and games. If he’s sitting, he’s still cheering on the team.”
Luckily, for Jones, pitching only requires one hand.
But hitting? He makes that work, too.
In his early years playing baseball he hit one-handed, with relative success. When he was around 11 years old, he deduced that if he somehow learned to use both arms, he could have more power. Ever since, he’s trained himself to grip the bat with his right hand and left arm — a service Freeman notes as effective.
“Even though there’s not much, there’s still more power than I would have had just using one arm,” Jones said.
Even more impressive?
He’s a fluid switch-hitter for Prairie, though he tells Freeman that he can’t see as well from the left side.
“He knows what the strike zone looks like, so he puts the bat on the ball,” Freeman said.
Jones worked the strike zone from the mound on Monday, despite hitting two batters. Overall, he wished he worked with the wind, not fought against it.
Prairie is in a 12-day stretch that includes eight games, so the Falcons sought to preserve their starting pitchers.
The Trappers took a three-run lead in the first inning after Austin Crothers hit a fly ball to right field, which advanced Sam Crawford to third base, who then scored on a wild pitch.
Prairie answered with two runs in the second and fourth innings, only to have Fort tie it up at 4-4 in the bottom of the fourth.
The Falcons rallied off five runs over the next two innings, capped by a two-run single to left field by Blake Robb. At one point, the Trappers had the bases loaded with two outs, but their top hitter Nick Laurenza sent a fly ball to the Falcon center fielder. Down five in the bottom of the seventh, Fort’s last-ditch effort to scrap runs together fell short.
Fort (2-11, 1-10) remains in last place in the 3A GSHL. Prairie sits in fourth, a half game behind Kelso and two games behind Evergreen. If they are to close the gap, perhaps the Falcons must tear a page out of Jones’ book.
“I just got used to (my disability) after a while and started putting in more and more work,” Jones said.
