3 Cleveland Guardians that are no longer worth defending

Nolan Jones - Right Fielder

Cleveland's other primary right fielder, Nolan Jones, has also been disappointing at the plate in 2025. Jones is 6-49 with a Guardians-high 16 strikeouts, not exactly what anyone was hoping for when Cleveland reacquired their former outfield prospect. The only positive for Jones here is that three of his hits were doubles, besides that, there is nothing really to be all that enthusiastic about with his performance so far.

Right now, it really seems like the 2023 season that saw Jones slash .297/.389/.542 with 22 doubles and 20 home runs in 109 games for the Colorado Rockies was an outlier. That season accounts for just over half of his 43 career doubles and all but three of his major league home runs in just under the total games played in non-2023 season (113). The sample size for both and combined (229) is still very small, but at some point, what happens on the field has to be judged for what it is.

Jones struggling at the plate would be less of an issue if there was a platoon partner who was able to shoulder some of the offensive workload. Unfortunately, Jones' platoon partner is the previously mentioned Jhonkensy Noel, leaving the Guardians with an offensive black hole at a position they desperately need production from. Noel appears to be benched for the time being and Jones may not be far behind him if his struggles continue.