This toolsy Guardians outfielder is finally finding success

The lowest point of Nolan Jones’ season arguably came on May 12. 

At the time, Jones was in the midst of a 2-for-29 (.069) slump. While he was near the top of the MLB leaderboards in exit velocity and expected batting average, he wasn’t finding any success in the batter’s box. 

You could seemingly see the weight of that slump weighing on his face after every strikeout or hard-hit lineout. 

But even with that, manager Stepehen Vogt never wavered in his support of Jones, as he backed him publicly every chance he got and kept writing his name in the lineup despite his struggles.

And that support is finally paying off in a big way.

Nolan Jones is finally finding success for the Guardians

Jones has now gone .333 (16-for-50) in the 16 games since his batting average bottomed out against the Brewers, and is coming off perhaps his best series of the year against the Angels. 

The best part of the Jones story is that his breakout game came on a day where he likely wasn’t supposed to play. 

Last Wednesday, Jones was on the bench for Cleveland’s series finale against the Dodgers due to Los Angeles rolling out a future Hall of Fame lefty Clayton Kershaw. 

But his number was called after Steven Kwan left the game due to wrist inflammation. 

So Jones went from sitting on the bench so the Guardians could maintain a platoon advantage to having Jones hitting leadoff against one of the best southpaws in all of baseball. 

And he answered the call. 

After hitting a single against Kershaw (his first hit against a lefty all year), Jones tied the game in the eighth inning with a two-run single off Dodgers left-handed reliever Tanner Scott. 

After failing to be rewarded for his hard-hit balls all year, his single snuck through the left side of the infield with a .240 expected batting average.

He followed that up with a two-hit game in Friday’s series opener against the Angels, a Little League home run on Saturday and a two-hit performance on Sunday. 

Jones is now slashing .214/.293/.314 on the year with two home runs and 16 RBI.

“I think I started trying less hard,” Jones said on Sunday, per MLB.com’s Tim Stebbins. “That's all we want to do -- is get hits and score runs and get RBIs and hit home runs,” Jones said. “So seeing a couple fall definitely feels good. It takes a little weight off your shoulders and allows you to play more free.”

Jones still ranks in the 91st percentile in average exit velocity, but now it feels more like a legitimate reason for his success as opposed to an excuse to keep him in the lineup despite his struggles. 

It’ll be interesting to see how Jones’ hot streak impacts how the Guardians manage their lineup. 

The Guardians have gotten next-to-no production from their right fielders (.180 batting average, which is last in MLB) thanks to the struggles from Jones and Jhonkensy Noel, so Jones’ success over the past week has been a long time coming.

Kwan’s a mainstay in left field and the Guardians seem to have no problem with Ángel Martínez playing center field now that Lane Thomas is hurt, so the right field picture is the only one that’s uncertain. 

And right now, it looks like it’s Jones’ position to lose. Noel only hitting .149 in 98 at-bats, while Daniel Schneeman and Gabriel Arias are both playing everyday in the infield. 

The Guardians reunited with Jones in the offseason in the hopes that he’d be able to unlock his intangibles with the organization that he broke into MLB with. 

It now seems like that’s the case — even if it took a bit longer than expected.