Call-up Jones is confident

Ryder Jones, the Giants’ third-base prospect who made his major-league debut against the Mets on Saturday, showed extreme confidence when he said he was glad to face a great pitcher like Jacob deGrom in his debut to help him get “locked in.”

Actually, after learning he was being promoted to the bigs, the 23-year-old faced deGrom on Friday night — on PlayStation.

“He threw me some good pitches,” Jones said with an absurdly straight face. “I got a knock and a popup.”

Good friend Christian Arroyo controlled deGrom on the video game. Against the real deGrom, Jones grounded out twice and flied out.

Jones is a tall left-handed hitter who batted .299 with 10 homers and a .944 OPS at Triple-A Sacramento.

“He’s a strong guy,” former River Cats teammate Austin Slater said. “He puts the ball in the air really well, and he can drive the ball all around.”

One line on Jones’ stat history stands out, and it’s not

home runs.

In 2014, the year he turned 20, he struck out 114 times in 476 combined at-bats for rookie-level Salem-Keizer, Ore., and low Class A Augusta, Ga. Since then his strikeouts have fallen as he has risen to tougher leagues: 80 in 432 at-bats in 2015 at high-A San Jose; 79 in 473 at-bats last year at Double-A Richmond, Va.; 26 in 197 at-bats at Sacramento this year.

“I think patience at the plate has been the biggest thing for me,” he said. “All of the years in low minors I was a little too aggressive, a little too antsy.”

So he swung at everything, hoping to put the ball in play. Jones learned to be more selective, looking for good pitches to drive, picking a side of the

plate on which to focus and spitting at everything else.

Once he did that, his strikeouts fell and his power rose.

“The biggest thing is not trying to impress people and just be yourself,” he said. “I was 19, 20. I wanted to be worth the second-round pick, so I thought I had to hit a home run, steal a base, make the plays every time, and you can't do that.” Hill gone: To clear a spot for Jones, the Giants designated Aaron Hill for assignment. Hill was hitting .132 and had no real role on a rebuilding team.