Jon Knott has never had anything handed to him in his brief, but bright, baseball career.

Unheralded out of high school, Knott made the Mississippi State University team as a walk-on, and finished his collegiate career with 51 home runs.

Despite a strong senior season, where he led the Bulldogs with a .359 batting average and eight home runs, Knott never received much interest from MLB clubs and remained undrafted after college.

The 6-3, 220-pound outfielder eventually signed with the San Diego Padres as a free agent on September 21, 2001.

Since then, Knott has proceeded to make more than a few of the teams that passed on him blush.

Jon has made steady progress through the Padres organization, producing at every level since making his professional debut with Fort Wayne in 2001.

Last season, Knott played with the Portland Beavers and he enjoyed his finest season as a pro in his first full AAA campaign.

He led the Beavers in most offensive categories during 2004, and earned his first major league promotion, playing in nine games with the Padres last summer.

Looking to make his next promotion a permanent one, Jon decided to test his game this offseason against some fierce competition by participating in the Puerto Rican winter league.

Knott, who played with Peoria in the Arizona Fall League after the 2003 regular season, said that there is a greater emphasis on winning in the Puerto Rican League as compared to the AFL, a league promoted mostly as a finishing school for many of baseball's top prospects.

"This league is different from the fall league last year," said Knott. "Here, they are very concerned with winning and getting to the Caribbean Series again."

The Caribbean Series annually pits the winners of the Dominican League, Mexican Pacific League, Puerto Rican League and Venezuelan League in a round-robin tournament to conclude the winter league campaign.

Knott reports that he and his wife, Connie, are living "right on the beach" with a fellow teammate, and have taken advantage of their locale for boogie boarding and "hanging out on the beach" in their free time.

As for adapting to the Puerto Rican lifestyle, the Nokomis, Fla., resident said that it's been easy to acclimate to his new surroundings, especially with some familiar comforts of home around him.

"The food is much better than expected," he said. "Plus, there are grocery stores and a Wal-Mart, so (we) can cook also."

Knott's goals are to improve his strength and conditioning and to work on his overall game against the high level of competition afforded in the competitive winter leagues.

"I didn't really set any numbers goals because I had no idea what to expect," the 26- year old Knott said. "I am out there working on every aspect of my game."

Jon is putting in a lot of extra effort in hopes of building on the success he established throughout the 2004 campaign.

He batted .290, while leading the Beavers in home runs (26), RBIs (85), runs (79), hits (126) and walks (58) in 113 games played.

When Portland's bats went cold in a best-of-five, first-round playoff series with Sacramento, Jon bucked the trend, batting .438 (7-for-16) and tallying seven RBIs in the four games against the River Cats, who went on to win their second straight PCL title.

While he has always been considered a long shot to make an impact in the majors, overcoming the odds has become one of Knott’s best assets.