Injuries and underperformance defined a disappointing season, but lessons were learned
Welcome to the 2024 edition of Ranking the Rockies, where we take a look back at every player to log playing time for the Rockies in 2024. The purpose of this list is to provide a snapshot of the player in context. The “Ranking” is an organizing principle that’s drawn from Baseball Reference’s WAR (rWAR). It’s not something the staff debated. We’ll begin with the player with the lowest rWAR and end up with the player with the highest.
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No. 43, Nolan Jones, -0.6 rWAR
What a difference a year makes.
During last year’s Ranking the Rockies, I had the pleasure of writing about Nolan Jones, who ranked number one on our list. As a rookie, he was the most valuable Rockie with 4.3 rWAR as he turned in a 20/20 season and showed off Gold Glove-worthy defense in the outfield. He looked to be a fixture for the next few years as the new face of the Rockies.
2024 certainly had different plans.
His second season as a Rockie can truly be summed up by one word: disappointing.
Primed to hit in the middle of the lineup for the Rockies, Jones struggled through spring training but had some leeway because of his 2023 performance. Unfortunately, it quickly became apparent that Jones was not the same player as last season. Through his first 26 games, Jones slashed a meager .170/.243/.277 with one home run, five doubles, a triple, and five RBI. More concerning was the 36 strikeouts to just a handful of walks.
Jones also made four errors defensively, passing the three he made in the outfield last year, including an unfortunate read in Chicago that resulted in a little-league home run.
Clearly, something was wrong with Jones. He later admitted he had been dealing with the mental pressures of performing and producing for the team but another issue is that physically he was not going well.
“I started off slow and put a little pressure on myself,” Jones told Purple Row’s Renee Dechert during the Rockies final series in September. “I had some back injuries that I dealt with, and missed some time, and then coming back, I felt like there wasn’t the power wasn’t there as much.”
A back injury had begun to bother Jones in spring training but it was never deemed serious enough to sideline him. As the season began and Jones’s struggles continued he was finally placed on the injured list on April 30.
During his rehab process, Jones also suffered a knee injury that set him back a little further, causing him to miss a month and a half of the season, returning to the lineup on June 14. Over his next 23 games, Jones batted a much improved .246/.391/.362 with two home runs while also drawing 16 walks against 26 strikeouts. The power numbers really weren’t there, but Jones was at least showing a resemblance of who he was a year ago. Unfortunately, his back injury flared up again and he was sent to the injured list for the second time on July 13 where he would remain until August 20.
During his rehab, Jones became a father as he welcomed the birth of his daughter, and the Rockies gave him ample time in his recovery to enjoy that new aspect of his life and simply get comfortable and confident at the plate again. In the 13 games he played with the Low-A Fresno Grizzlies and Triple-A Albuquerque Isotopes, Jones slashed .333/.455/.733 with four home runs along with nine walks against 13 strikeouts. Surely he was back to his old self, right?
Well, not exactly.
Through his final 30 games with the big league club, Jones batted .269/.340/.333. He had 25 hits, including six doubles, but no home runs, and also managed to drive in 14 runs while amassing 11 walks against 28 strikeouts. So while the power wasn’t there, there was improvement from where he started the year, but will it be enough to maintain a prominent role with the Rockies? That remains to be seen but Jones is choosing to look for the lessons from a disappointing season.
“I think that it was a year of learning and a year of growth for me. I’ve never struggled this much in my baseball career, and obviously this stage is a lot different to do it on,” said Jones. “So I think I learned mentally, physically, what I need to do, to stay on the field every day, and then mentally, how to get through those tough times.
“How do you convince yourself, even when you don’t believe it, you belong here and you can play here?” he continued. “I learned a lot about myself. I learned that I am strong enough, mentally and physically to be here and play this game. Obviously, last year I had a good year, and I wanted to build off that. But I think for me, this year was all about learning, for myself, learning things I need to do to stay on the field.”
Despite the struggles, Jones still believes himself to be a helpful piece in aiding the Rockies’ rebuild to become a playoff team. However, in order for him to do that, he will need to rebound and prove that 2024 was just a fluke.
By the end of the season, Jones hit .227/.321/.320 with just three home runs in 79 games. At points, he showed improved patience at the plate but struggled to make adjustments to a league that had already adjusted to him. Pitchers began attacking him outside and he became a little too selective, resulting in more called strikes and swinging at less-than-ideal pitches out of desperation.
The main problem Jones will have to address is doing more damage with his bat. Back injuries are tough to deal with as it saps a lot of thump in a bat, limiting someone to mostly singles (see: Kris Bryant). However, Jones doesn’t have a degenerative back issue (that we know of) so a healthy offseason will go a long way in regaining that rhythm. There are no plans for Jones to play winter ball, opting for rest and recovery, but pitch selection and recognition will be paramount for Jones to get on base and hit the pitches he wants more consistently.
After two years in Colorado, we have now seen two different sides of Nolan Jones. One side is a top-rate near five-tool player while the other is a lackluster bat stashed at the bottom of the lineup. Lacking any minor league options, 2025 will be of the utmost importance for Jones to prove that 2024 was just a misstep and he has much more to offer the Rockies moving forward.
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