Nolan Jones grew up in the Cleveland Guardians organization. He was drafted in 2016 and made his professional debut in the Arizona Fall League that same year.
Jones looked like he was poised to be a big part of the Guardians’ future as he moved up the prospect rankings every year. However, Cleveland decided to go in a different direction and traded Jones for infielder Juan Brito.
Jones talked about what it was like to be traded and how he’s fitting in with his new club on the Audacy Original Podcast “Baseball Isn’t Boring” this week.
“To be honest with you, the first day, it was horrible. It was horrible the first day,” Jones said (14:10 in player above). “I was devastated. I played for seven years and became best friends with all the guys I came up through the system with. I was actually on vacation and it ruined my whole day. I was really upset and then I looked at it as a new opportunity.
Jones was immediately embraced by his new teammates when he showed up in January. He mentioned Ryan McMahon, Brian Severen, and Randal Grichuk as three of the Rockies veterans that helped welcome him to the Colorado organization.
“There was a bunch of guys and I remember calling my dad on the way home and I was like ‘This is going to be the best thing that ever happened to me,’” he recalled. “I got to meet a whole new group of people. It was scary for me at first, I didn’t know what to expect, but everything about it has been awesome.”
Jones started this season in Triple-A, where he hit 12 home runs with a .356 batting average and 1.19 OPS in 39 games (149 at-bats). He made his Rockies debut on May 26th and hasn’t looked back.
After a rocky start, Jones has now swatted four home runs – including a 472-foot walk-off blast – while batting .333 with a 1.019 OPS.
“To go somewhere else was a little bit scary for me, but everyone I talked to was like ‘This is a good opportunity for you. It’s not about friendships. It’s a good opportunity for your career,’” Jones said. “It was really scary at first but it’s turned into something that I’m going to look back on hopefully a long time from now and say this was the best thing that ever happened.”
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