Jones’ Clippers season ends with ankle surgery
Nolan Jones seemed primed to make an impact in Cleveland in 2021. The club's No. 1-ranked prospect entering the year, Jones was being groomed to potentially be defensively viable at multiple spots, an effort to create as many paths to the majors as possible.
He found his way to Double-a in 2019 and then spent last summer at the team's alternate site, earning at-bats in simulated games in Eastlake. So 2021 was to be his first taste of Triple-a pitching, the final hurdle before the big callup to the big show.
That call never came. In fact, the phone lines were cut shortly after Opening Day. Jones' season never got off the ground at the plate. He never really even taxied out to the runway.
Through the month of May — a span of 22 games — Jones was hitting just .189 with one home run, five doubles and 16 strikeouts for the Clippers. He rebounded in June (.892 OPS), but the remainder of his 2021 season could be considered inconsistent at best.
He also never made it to September. A high ankle sprain sidelined him for the last several weeks, and it was announced on Sunday that the injury will end his season. Jones will undergo surgery to stabilize the ankle. The expected timeframe for his return is three to five months.
Jones dropped to the No. 3 spot in Cleveland's farm system rankings, according to MLB Pipeline, behind infielder Tyler Freeman and outfielder George
Valera. Freeman, too, had his season ended after he underwent shoulder surgery in August.
There were some positives with Jones' season — he hit left-handers better than right-handers, .791 OPS vs. .786 and finished with a .356 on-base percentage — but the 122 strikeouts and low average (.238) otherwise cloud a sunny outlook on 2021, as he never found an element of consistency at the plate.
Jones will enter 2022 still right at the doorstep of a call-up to the majors should he find a hot streak in Columbus. Third base remains his primary position, which would require Jose Ramirez to move to second base (and then a few other dominos falling after that), but he also logged extensive time in right field, one of the biggest question marks on Cleveland's roster, particularly with Josh Naylor's Opening Day status still unknown.