3 reasons why the Cleveland Guardians calling-up Nolan Jones is confusing

The Cleveland Guardians will trot out highly touted prospect Nolan Jones on Friday night.

The Cleveland Guardians and Cleveland Cavaliers will see two highly touted rookies take their respective places with their teams on Friday for the first time ever. The Cavaliers will see Ochai Agbaji debut for the Cavs during the NBA’s Summer League, while Nolan Jones will take his first steps with the Guardians against the Kansas City Royals.

Agbaji playing right now isn’t a surprise, this is a routine that just about all rookies take part in. Yet, for the Guardians, calling up Jones was a bit of a surprise. Not because the team isn’t hurting for help, they are, but the team isn’t in a place where Jones can really help them on an everyday outing.

The team needs help at the back of the rotation and at the front of the bullpen, plus a new catcher. Jones is a corner outfielder and occasional third basemen.

So why is Jones’ call-up confusing?

The Cleveland Guardians call-up of Nolan Jones is confusing

1. Corner outfield isn’t a play of need

The Cleveland Guardians have Steven Kwan, Oscar Gonzalez and just recently brought back Oscar Mercado. Yes, Gonzalez is on the 10-disabled list but he’s only going to be on it for a few more days and should be ready to go by the end of the week. You don’t bring up a guy like Jones for a spell and send him back down. He’s either up for good or he’s not, he’s not a tweener like some minor league guys. If Jones could play center, then this makes sense, as Myles Straw is struggling.

Yet, unless they want to play Kwan in center and have Straw come off the bench, Jones doesn’t provide much in the way of assistance for the team.

2. He’s been inconsistent save for a few dozen games in 2022

Jones is tearing the ball off the cover in Triple-A Columbus. He’s got great spits, .311/.417/.500, and a .917 OPS while hitting 25 RBIs in 23 games. Here’s the problem; this is the only time in his career he’s hit like this. While he’s had some fine seasons before, he bottomed out in 2021, hitting just .238 on the year. It’s possible he’s ready, that he’s gotten to the place where he could compete for Rookie of the Year and be the next great bat in Guardians history.

Yet, its also just as likely that he’s having a hot streak and isn’t ready; and that this call-up will stunt his growth as we’ve seen before with guys like Bradley Zimmer and others.

3. A hitting-catcher is a much more pressing need and Jones now takes up a roster spot

The team calling him up to give a punch to their offense would make more sense if he could play catcher. The team doesn’t have any catchers who are realistically ready for competition at the major league level just yet. So a trade would’ve made more sense. The team may still do that, but now that Jones is on the major league roster, that takes up a roster spot and that means if a trade does happen, someone will have to go.