Nolan Jones another rookie making immediate impact for Cleveland Guardians

Nolan Jones joins a long line of young Guardians players who have made an immediate impact at the major-league level this season.

At some point, there will be a Cleveland Guardians rookie who initially struggles during his first taste of the majors, but it won’t be Nolan Jones who breaks the streak.

From Steven Kwan to Oscar Gonzalez to even Richie Palacios, the Guardians have been throwing their rookies into the fire in 2022, and just about all of them have delivered right out of the gate. For Jones, who was at one point the top prospect in the Cleveland organization, he is off to a scorching start to his very young career, with a .539 batting average in his first four games.

The 24-year-old’s eight RBIs in his first four games – following a four-RBI night against the White Sox Monday – is especially notable, as it ties him with 1936’s Roy Weatherly for the most in a Cleveland player’s first four career games since the RBI became official in 1920. He’s also the 15th player overall with eight or more RBIs in his first four career games (thanks, Sarah Langs).

At this point, Jones might never see Triple-A again. It’s of course an insanely small sample size, but Jones has already earned the right to see plenty of playing time the rest of the season. He hasn’t looked overmatched at the plate whatsoever, and has provided a spark the Guardians offense has sorely needed.

Once Oscar Gonzalez returns from his abdominal issue, that will present an interesting question as to how Cleveland finds ample playing time for Jones, but the Guardians can cross that bridge when they get to it. These are all good problems to have when every young player you call up immediately starts contributing.

Jones will certainly cool off as major-league pitchers adjust and Jones will be forced to do the same. There is always the looming specter of Jones’ strikeout tendencies that plagued him at times in the minors, though to this point, his revamped swing appears to be working wonders.

But until then, the Guardians can ride the hot bat of yet another exciting prospect making a name for himself at the major-league level.