Beginning this week, JaCoby Jones will play his first non-rehab games in Triple-A in four years. Mired in a season-long slump at the plate, the Tigers sent him down to Toledo on Sunday to fix his swing -- a rehab assignment all the same.
"He was disappointed," A.J. Hinch said Monday before the start of a four-game series with the Indians. "It’s tough news to hear, especially as a guy who’s been a fixture around here for a couple years and someone who we thought had turned the corner last season. Then he got hurt and comes in this year and never really got on track.
"My message to him was, 'We’ve gotta go get it figured out at the level below us in Triple-A.' I don’t think he’s a Triple-A player. I think it’s a place to go and find his swing and find his approach."
Detroit's starting center fielder on Opening Day, Jones has struck out in 40 percent of his plate appearances this season -- the second highest rate in the majors among players with at least 100 plate appearances. He's hitting .170 without any of the power he's shown in the past. Jones could certainly return soon, but the Tigers couldn't afford to keep him in the majors any longer -- especially with fellow outfielder Victor Reyes having found his swing in Toledo. The Tigers recalled Reyes to take Jones' spot on the roster.
"The 40 percent strikeout rate, the swing and miss inside the zone, some of the empty at-bats just became too much for us here," said Hinch. "Not too dissimilar with what happened with Victor a couple weeks ago. We send Victor down, he goes down and does very well and gets his mojo back and we bring him back. So there’s a couple different things that contributed to the decision, but we’ve gotta get JaCoby to be a more well-rounded offensive player for him to play here."
Jones showed signs of becoming that player the past two seasons. He finished 2019 with a flourish after altering his pre-swing approach, and he posted an .849 OPS in a small sample last year before his season ended early due to a broken hand. But Jones hasn't looked right in 2021. On top of all the whiffs, he's making hard contact at a career-low rate. He'll try to regain some momentum with Toledo, with the hope of reclaiming his job in Detroit.
"Look, it’s tough news, but I think it’ll be the best thing for him," said Hinch. "I think he’ll look back at this as a time in his career where he can reset himself and fight back to being an everyday player again. It’s not necessarily something he’s thinking about right now, but it will sink in for him. And if he does that, we want him back here. We feel like he can contribute, but what we were getting up to the point of the decision yesterday, we felt like this was the best thing for us to do."
Jones turned 29 this month. He's played over 350 games in the majors. He's no longer a young player. He can still be a big-league player, but it will start with getting himself right in the minors.
"The reset for him can happen quickly," Hinch said. "It happened quickly with Victor who pushed his way back to the big leagues by how he did in Triple-A. Maybe the same can be true for JaCoby."