SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Pressure doesn’t make perfect.
Rockies outfielder Nolan Jones learned that harsh lesson last season.
“That was the ultimate mistake that I made, I wanted to be perfect,” he said. “I set big goals. I wanted to hit 30 homers. I wanted to steal 30 bases. I wanted to win a Gold Glove.
“I wanted to be perfect, and when I wasn’t, it was mentally frustrating. I wasn’t having success, and all of those goals seemed farther away. It was a huge learning experience for me. Now, I want to get back to who I was in 2023.”
The Rockies would turn cartwheels if the 26-year-old Jones can do that and earn the starting job in left field. But if Jones stumbles, talented prospects Zac Veen, Yanquiel Fernandez and Benny Montgomery are itching to replace him.
“We think Nolan’s capable of being an everyday player,” manager Bud Black said. “If he does something one time, he’s capable of doing it again. … I don’t want to put a statistical number on his performance, but the 2023 season, when he was called up in May and the way he played the rest of the season, is indicative of what he can do.”
Ah yes, 2023. After being traded from Cleveland, Jones flashed star potential in his first season with Colorado. He teamed up with center fielder Brenton Doyle for what looked like a dream outfield. Jones became the first rookie in major league history to have at least 20 home runs, 20 stolen bases and 19 outfield assists in a season. He finished fourth in voting for National League rookie of the year.
But his encore season was a flop. Jones slashed .227/.321/.320 with just three home runs in 79 games. He was slowed by a lingering back injury and tried to play through a sore knee.
Also, he felt the stress of being a new father. He and his fiancee, Morgan Gougher, welcomed their daughter Kamryn on Aug. 4. But fluid in Kamryn’s lungs required her to be on supplemental oxygen for a month, causing long nights of worry for Jones.
Kamryn is healthy and happy now. So is her daddy, who took a much-needed vacation from baseball.
“I took a month-and-a-half break, which I had never done in my life,” Jones said. “I wanted to forget everything about baseball. My two main goals were to get my body healthy and learn to be a dad. Being around Kamryn has been the best months of my life.”
When Jones returned to the batting cage and started fielding drills, he reminded himself to enjoy his job.
“In ’23, I played like a kid out there, running down balls, stealing bases, having fun,” he said. “I want to play like that again.”
Still, the specter of last season looms. Jones knows he must tweak his swing and improve his defense if he’s going to regain the confidence that will allow him to play with freedom.
That confidence took a hit early last season.
In the fifth game, against the Cubs at Wrigley Field, the left fielder allowed a base hit to roll under his glove. The ball rolled to the wall as two runs scored. Jones’ throw back toward the infield was low and skipped off the glove of second baseman Brendan Rodgers, allowing the Cubs to score a third run.
The day before, at Arizona’s Chase Field, he had dropped a routine fly ball that should have ended the fifth inning. Instead, the D-backs scored their fourth run of the game.
“That was hard,” Jones recalled. “I worked so hard in the offseason and then I looked up and I had four errors in the first five games.”
Jones has a theory as to what happened.
“Last year, I became very technical,” he said. “But I learned a lot. Now I just have to go out there and play.”
At the plate, Jones must counterpunch. After his stellar 2023 season — he was named the NL Rookie of the Month for September after slashing .350/.460/.631 with six homers, three triples, five home runs, 22 RBIs and 11 stolen bases in 28 games — he became a marked man.
“With Nolan, the book on him earlier was, ‘Big guy (6-foot-4) and long arms … likes to get extended, good power to left-center field,’” Black said. “The thought was, ‘Let’s get the fastball in on him because his swing sets up right-center-field gap to left field. Combat that with inside velocity and breaking stuff down underneath.’
“Nolan made the adjustments in ‘23. He was able to get the head of the bat (in place), catch the ball out front and pull a homer on the breaking ball that didn’t get down and in — to the right-field corner. He was locked in.”
Not so in ’24. Breaking balls befuddled him. After hitting .311 against breaking pitches in ’23, he hit .219 last year, according to Statcast. Against offspeed pitches, Jones batted just .152 after hitting .266 in ’23.
“I’ve figured some things out with my approach and my swing, I made some adjustments,” Jones said. “I feel really good.”
But early in spring training Jones was hitless in 13 at-bats with two walks and four strikeouts entering Saturday.
The Rockies aren’t alarmed by the slump. After all, it is spring training. Still, Black is watching Jones with a critical eye.
“We want Nolan to get back to the level of play that we think he can get to — and his expectations, too. That’s the hope,” Black said. “But time will tell.”
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