The Colorado Rockies are not in good shape.
They are, by far, the worst team in the NL West division and one of the worst in the league.
However, they do have quality players, and the best of them all might very well be Nolan Jones.
The former Cleveland Guardian had a breakthrough season with Colorado in 2023, and the folks at MLB Network analyzed his performance.
The conclusion is that everything he did was legit.
“There was one bright spot for them last year,” they said, clearly referring to Jones.
“This guy is one of the more intriguing young players in the game,” they also stated.
Jones ranked third among MLB players at 25 years old or younger in OPS+ (adjusted for park factor) with a 138 mark.
That was enough to rank 14th among all players with at least 100 games played.
He had a higher OPS+ than Corbin Carroll, for example.
His home and road marks were actually very much alike: he had a .530 slugging percentage in Coors Field and a .554 mark as the Rockies played in other cities; and 10 home runs in each situation.
Jones was also much better against breaking balls (.590 slugging percentage) than against fastballs (.505 slugging percentage).
All things considered, he is not your prototypical Rockies slugger who benefitted from playing his home games in the thin air of the mountains.
He was equally good at home or away, against righties or lefties, and against fastballs or breaking stuff.
He was consistent, as his .931 OPS, 20 home runs, and 20 steals in just 106 games prove.
The sky is the limit for Jones.