It is late in her annual spring training assignment. Emily Jones, who has reported from next to the Rangers' dugout for 15 seasons, is wrapping up some interviews when she sidles up to Shin-Soo Choo's locker. He is dripping something viscous from a strange bottle into an iced coffee.

"Is that honey from Korea?" Jones asks.

"No," Choo shoots back immediately. "Costco."

She doubles over in laughter. And so does he. It is not a typical reaction for the reserved and contemplative Choo. But, then again, Jones has a way of getting players to let down their guard to express reactions most normally don't see.

Later in the day, she will sit on the back of a golf cart, talking quietly with outfielder Joey Gallo about the struggles and burdens of transitioning from young prospect to cornerstone player.

A few days later, after she returns to her home in Fort Worth, young outfielder Willie Calhoun is sent back to the minor leagues and is having a difficult time dealing with it, even after a long talk with the club's Peak Performance coordinator, Josiah Igono. Jones texts Calhoun, whom she has spent the winter praising for his increased sense of self-awareness, and a long conversation follows.

The next day, Calhoun returns to the club and apologizes publicly for how his actions were interpreted.

It is not the typical behavior of a reporter whose main goal is to get the story first. Then again, Jones is not your typical reporter.

First, like the Rangers' television play-by-play and color analysts, she's an employee of the team. And she's become as recognizable as a face of the team as any of them. Second, she's emotionally invested in her players, unapologetically so. Third, well, there is nothing typical about the way she does her job.

At 41, the mother of a 7-year-old son she lovingly calls "Warm Mess" Henry and 5-year-old daughter "Hot Mess" Hattie, Jones has created a distinctive approach to her job and her life. In short, she brings her approach to her family into the clubhouse. Who she has become has been shaped in equal parts by the joy of motherhood and the grief of two devastating losses. She cares not just about the stories, but also unapologetically about the people on whom she reports.

She writes her kids loving affirmation notes for their school lunches -- even for those days when she is on the road -- and doesn't hesitate to discipline them. She treats the players, more and more of whom are 10 to 15 years her junior, much the same way.

"She sits in a unique spot in the company," said Rangers general manager Jon Daniels. "She's trusted in both the clubhouse and the front office. At times, she serves as confidant and adviser to some of the players she's developed relationships with. While she's part of the organization, she's acting on her own, and I think the players appreciate the perspective. She can talk to them more as a friend or sister than as co-worker or boss."

Or, as the players, say ...

"She's like a mom -- she really is my second mom," said second baseman Rougned Odor, with whom Jones has cultivated an especially close relationship. "Anytime I feel something, I talk to her. She has helped me with a lot of things. She tells me how much she cares and she's the first person to kick my [butt] when it needs to be kicked. She changes my day. I love her."

Said third baseman Adrian Beltre, who retired from the Rangers after last season: "The best way I can describe it is this way: We feel like she belongs. She is one of us. You could talk to her about the game, about anything. She made you feel comfortable and you could trust her. There are not many people you can say that about."

Texas Rangers third baseman Adrian Beltre high fives broadcast field reporter Emily Jones after he was presented the team player of the year award during the 2015 Dr Pepper Texas Rangers Awards Dinner at the Omni Dallas Hotel on Friday, Jan. 23, 2015, in Dallas. (Smiley N. Pool/The Dallas Morning News) (Smiley N. Pool / Staff Photographer)

No pretense

Jones used to cringe over the "mother" analogies. But now she says she's comfortable with them. Mostly because she is just comfortable, period. She is who she is without pretense or apology.

She admits she curses a lot on social media. She will poke fun at her own experiences in motherhood. And she will fire back when somebody slides into her DMs to ask for a photo of her legs or if somebody has a problem with her hairstyle or dress.

Jones doesn't have time to put on appearances. She'd prefer to help her kids with a school project, answer questions from young women with aspirations of working in sports, or help run the Do It For Durrett Foundation she co-founded in 2014 after the sudden passing of former Dallas Morning News and ESPN.com writer Richard Durrett.

The charity was born out of a fundraiser she helped organize to benefit Durrett's widow, Kelly, and their three young children. Do It For Durrett has distributed over $1 million to 100 families that have experienced sudden loss.

Oh, and when she can, Jones self-publishes a children's book. Or two. Her second, based on special-needs children and titled Something Special In The Stands, was published in late 2018.

"I've never seen somebody who could devote so much time to so many different parts of their life to so many different things and give back," said her husband, Mike McCoy, to whom she will be married 10 years in July. "With all the stuff she does, she's never turned anybody away. It's hard for her to say no to anybody."

And yet ...

"I've always known her to be a very strong woman," said longtime friend and colleague Alanna Rizzo, a host and reporter on the Los Angeles Dodgers' broadcasts for SportsNet LA. "She doesn't put up with any garbage."

Don't be mistaken -- when Jones first stepped into the Rangers' clubhouse 15 years ago, straight from a Lubbock TV station, it was, in her words, "an intimidating, uncomfortable place." Players like Michael Young and Ian Kinsler quickly made her feel at ease. She pledged to pay it forward.

"Guys then were huge in helping me establish myself," Jones said. "I could crack bad jokes and use bad words and those guys accepted me. Now, you look around and the clubhouse is a completely different place. I've seen guys come in with timidity of their own and unsure of what to feel. I want those guys to feel like other guys made me feel."

Just as Jones felt intimidation being in the clubhouse for the first time, she can identify with young players, particularly those whose primary language is not English, dealing with media in a foreign language. It, too, can be intimidating.

"She finds a way to make sure you are comfortable here," said shortstop Elvis Andrus, who has known Jones for going on 11 years since he came up as a 20-year-old rookie. "She finds a way to get the best out of you. She helps you find a way to say the right thing, to show the right body language, to find the right path. And she's not afraid to call you out when you don't."

Emily Jones, the Texas Rangers reporter for FOX Sports Southwest and mother of two, Henry (right) and Hattie, poses for a photo at her Fort Worth home, Thursday, May 2, 2019. (Tom Fox/The Dallas Morning News) (Tom Fox / Staff Photographer)

Big changes in life

Life can change for you in a minute.

For Jones, it was a series of changes: The birth of her second child, the shocking death of Durrett and, perhaps most significant, the sudden death of her dad, Don.

Don Jones died in March 2016, about two weeks before the start of what Jones expected would be her last season with the Rangers. She had already told the team as much. Family time called. Asking others for help in picking up with child-rearing pained her greatly. And, when her dad died, it only reaffirmed in her head that the time was right to move on.

"Being a parent changes everything," Jones said. "I had spent so much of my life forging a career and working to achieve things professionally. And once you have kids and you want to be a parent, all you want to do is achieve things on a personal level."

She held firm to those plans through most of the 2016 season. It wasn't until late August that her mother-in-law called on her for a face-to-face visit. The message: Nobody buys that you are ready to walk away, and people want to help you.

It froze Jones in her tracks.

A few days later, she had an exchange with Odor, whom she watched botch a pair of baserunning plays, get visually scolded by Beltre and then hit a walkoff homer to win a game. After her on-field interview with Odor, she took him aside and told him how proud she was of him.

That moment, Jones said, is what kept her from retiring. Once and for all, it put her completely at ease with who she was as a reporter and as a person.

"I was always relationship-driven," she said. "But having kids only amplifies that. It's always about relationships. I have no problem saying 'I love you,' and I say it all the time. It's not weird to me at all. I tell them I'm proud of them."

To their credit, the Rangers recognized the value to their players of having that kind of presence in the clubhouse and representing the team. Nobody asked her to scale back her wide-ranging conversations or her social media presence.

"From a broadcasting standpoint, she's always been excellent at what she does," said John Blake, the Rangers' executive vice president for communications who hired her away from Fox Sports Southwest in 2014. "But I wanted somebody who could help the players a little too. She balances it all really well. She brings information. She adds to the broadcast. She has been a big asset to the broadcast and to the organization. She's a great ambassador."

Said Jones: "The organization has just let me be me."

It has all combined to make her believe that she is right where she belongs. Growing up in Plainview, about 50 miles north of Lubbock, she once dreamed of following the female pioneers in sports anchoring and hosting SportsCenter on ESPN.

But life can change for you in a minute. Or a series of them.

"This is it, there is nothing else I'd really want to do," Jones said. "I always knew how my dad felt about me and he always knew how I felt about him because we told each other. Every time we talked. His death left a huge void for me. And I guess, in that way, these guys have helped to fill that void. They make me feel like it's OK to care about them. And it's OK to let them know that I do."

Twitter: @Evan_P_Grant

Keeping up with the Jones'

Fox Sports Southwest reporter Emily Jones tries to duck away from a bucket of water tossed her way by Texas Rangers shortstop Elvis Andrus as she tries to interview designated hitter Prince Fielder after a win over the Chicago White Sox at Globe Life Park on Wednesday, May 11, 2016, in Arlington. The Rangers won the game 6-5. Second baseman Rougned Odor is at right. (Smiley N. Pool/The Dallas Morning News) (Smiley N. Pool / Staff Photographer)

Emily Jones

Born: Plainview, TX

: Fort Worth

: Plainview HS (1995); Texas Tech (1998)

: KCBD-TV (Lubbock) news reporter and sports anchor/director, 1998-2004. ... Fox Sports Southwest reporter/studio host, 2004-13; Texas Rangers TV reporter, 2014-present.

: Husband, Mike McCoy; children Henry (7) and Hattie (5)

On some of her favorite Rangers to work with (alphabetically ordered):

Elvis Andrus: "I mean, that smile alone. His endless supply of positivity and his child-like exuberance are infectious. His taste in music is questionable, but he will always be my first baseball child."

Adrian Beltre: "The biggest challenge and greatest reward of my career. Honest and witty with his words, but you had to work for them. If you want to see Adrian squirm, just ask him to talk about himself."

Ian Kinsler: "He was a smartass, no doubt. But I always knew where I stood with him, and I respect the hell out of that. No punches pulled with Ian."

Mike Napoli: "Naaaaaaaaap! The dude hated interviews, but his stories were the off the charts. Always had my back. Still does."

Rougned Odor: "Some of my favorite moments are when Rougie nails an interview, I tell him I'm proud, he flashes a giant smile and says, 'Really, Emmy?' He's also a stellar bodyguard."

Michael Young: "Old Faithful. Always there, regardless of circumstance. Always knew the right thing to say. And he spoke in 12 second sound bytes, which is a TV reporter's dream."

Favorite Rangers memory covering the team: "After clinching the AL West in Oakland in 2010 and the clubhouse celebration, the team took over a bar in San Francisco. Players, coaches, front office, media, everybody was there. Beer pong may have been involved."