Red Sox Rookie on His First Stint in the Bigs: It's pretty cool

He arrived in the Red Sox clubhouse in Oakland on April 15 as the smiling lefty known for his “ugly” goggles on the mound.

And as he left Thursday night, headed back for life at Triple-A Pawtucket, Hunter Jones felt like he had made the most of his first major league experience with the Red Sox.

“Just the way everyone treated me was awesome.” Jones said. “There’s no experience like it and I couldn’t have asked for a better month-and-a-half. It’s pretty cool.”

Jones was optioned after the club’s 5-1 win over Toronto to make room for Daisuke Matsuzaka to return to the to the Red Sox rotation on Friday night.

The 25-year-old lefty had an 0-0 record with an 8.00 ERA in eight appearances. He allowed 10 hits and eight runs in nine innings of work, fanning seven and walking four while allowing two homers.

But the numbers are not what he’ll take from this first major league experience.

“You kind of see what the hitters respond to and what they don’t What works up here and what doesn’t so you can kind of eliminate some of the things you’ve been doing and add things you need,” Jones said.

Jones arrived in the Red Sox clubhouse in Oakland with an ear-to-ear smile a mere 20 minutes after the club’s 8-2 win over the A’s on April 15, beginning his big league adventure.

“Nobody has really separated me,” Jones explained Thursday night after getting the news of his option back to Triple-A. “I feel like everybody kind of brought me in, it’s pretty cool.

"I felt like I was part of the team. You can’t really ask a lot of teams to do that. It’s just how classy the organization is. I feel like I have some things to work on and I can’t wait to get back up here.”

Jones will use his time back down in Pawtucket to try and rediscover some of the speed he lost off a fastball that was clocked at 91-92 when he was called up to Boston.

“I’ve got to get back over the rubber and hopefully I’ll be throwing harder than I was at the end of my stint up here,” Jones said. “I think I’m just leaking and that’s what I’m working on.

"It just makes me want to work hard, really hard. That’s what I’m going to do.”