The Cleveland Guardians cleared a roster spot Sunday, with outfielder Nolan Jones accepting an outright assignment to Triple-A.
According to Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Jones won’t be sticking around for Opening Day after a rough spring training that saw him hit just .152 with one home run and 14 strikeouts in 36 plate appearances.
It’s a fall from grace for the 27-year-old lefty who looked like he’d figured things out with Colorado in 2023. That season, Jones launched 20 homers with a .931 OPS across 106 games – the kind of production that gets teams excited about your potential.
But he hasn’t come close to replicating that success since.
The fact that Jones accepted the assignment tells us he cleared waivers first. That means all 29 other clubs took a pass on a guy who’s shown he can hit for power at the big league level.
What’s working against Jones is his swing-and-miss problem. He struck out in 28% of his plate appearances last season, and those numbers didn’t improve this spring. For a team like Cleveland that values contact and situational hitting, that’s a tough sell for a fourth outfielder role.
Jones had the right to reject the assignment since he’s got over three years of service time. But walking away would’ve meant forfeiting his $2 million salary for 2025.
Smart move to take the money and try to work things out in Triple-A. The talent’s still there – it’s just a matter of whether he can put it all together consistently.
