Nolan Jones

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Nolan Allen Jones

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Biographical Information[edit]

Nolan Jones was selected in the 2nd round of the 2016 amateur draft by the Cleveland Indians. He was originally a third baseman, but the Indians eventually switched him to the outfield while in the minors. He began his pro career in 2016 with the AZL Indians, hitting .257 in 32 games. In 2017, he was with the Mahoning Valley Scrappers of the New York-Penn League where he hit .317/.430/.482 in 62 games.

Nolan had his first taste of full-season ball in 2018 when he split the season between the Lake County Captains of the Midwest League and the Lynchburg Hillcats of the Carolina League. His combined batting line was .283/.405/.466 with 19 homers and 66 RBIs. He was named an organizational All-Star at the end of the season. In 2019, he started the season with Lynchburg where he hit .286 in 77 games before a promotion to the Akron Rubber Ducks of the Eastern League, He was a mid-season All-Star in the Carolina League and was selected to play in the 2019 Futures Game, then hit .253 in 49 games with Akron. Combined, his batting line was .272/.409/.442 in 126 games, with 22 doubles, 15 homers, 81 runs and 63 RBIs. Also impressive were his 96 walks. He played in the Arizona Fall League after the season.

He made his major league debut with the re-named Cleveland Guardians on July 8, 2022. He started in right field against the Kansas City Royals and went 2 for 3 with a double and an RBI in a 4-3 loss. He had 8 RBIs in his first four career games, making him the first Cleveland player since Roy Weatherly in 1936 to do so. He was also just the second player in team history to have a four-RBI game in his first four career games, after Kevin Kouzmanoff in 2006. He hit .244 in 28 games in his first taste of the majors, with 2 homers and 13 RBIs, good for an OPS+ of 96.

On November 15, 2022, he was traded to the Colorado Rockies in return for minor leaguer Juan Brito. He started the 2023 season in the minors with the Albuquerque Isotopes, where he hit .356 in his first 39 games. He was called up to Colorado at the end of May and continued to hit well, batting .360 in his first 15 games. On June 11th, he hit the longest walk-off homer in the Statcast era, blasting the ball 472 feet against Brent Honeywell to give the Rockies a 5-4 win over the San Diego Padres. In the boxscore, it looked like Nolan's blast came just moments after Ryan McMahon had tied the game with a two-run homer off Tom Cosgrove, but in fact, McMahon's homer had been hit in a downpour, and there had been a delay of an hour and 25 minutes before the rain cleared and play could resume. He was named the National League Rookie of the Month for September after hitting .349 with an OPS of 1.112, 7 homers, 23 RBIs and 12 stolen bases for the month; in fact he was a strong contender for NL Player of the Month as well, although that distinction went to Ronald Acuna who posted very similar numbers.

His brother Peyton Jones is a professional hockey goaltender. Nolan also played hockey as a youth but switched to baseball after dealing with concussions.

Notable Achievements[edit]

Further Reading[edit]

  • Mandy Bell: "Jones makes franchise history as hot start continues", mlb.com, July 12, 2022. [1]
  • Manny Randhawa: "Longest walk-off HR of Statcast era puts Rox back in win column: Jones' 472-footer bookends a rain delay with McMahon's 442-foot drive in the 9th", mlb.com, June 11, 2023. [2]

Related Sites[edit]

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