Jon Meoli: Why the Orioles acquiring Jahmai Jones represents a new facet of their trade strategies

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For the first year-plus of the Mike Elias era of Orioles baseball, the club’s trades were centered mostly on acquiring Latin American teenagers and lower-level pitching that rated well in their recent draft evaluations.

In acquiring Jahmai Jones, a second baseman/outfielder and former Top 100 prospect from the Angels this week in a trade that sent a reported $10 million in present-day and deferred money with veteran right-hander Alex Cobb to Los Angeles, the Orioles might be transitioning how they’re thinking a bit.

The shift started over the summer when high-minors hitters such as Tyler Nevin and Terrin Vavra were acquired from the Colorado Rockies in exchange for reliever Mychal Givens.

Jones certainly isn’t a plug-and-play option who is going to be written into the Orioles’ Opening Day lineup come April 1 in Boston just because he made his major league debut last year for the Angels. He is, however, the first player the Orioles have acquired in a trade under Elias in which the return can reasonably be said to have both the present and future in mind — and where there’s a case to be made that the clearest value is what the Orioles brought in as opposed to what they sent out.

Even the best prep prospects take some time to find their footing after the draft, and Jones, a second-round pick of the Angels in 2015, was no exception. He hit well in short-season ball in 2016 and got a taste of Class-A to end the season. In 2017, Jones was the Angels’ minor league player of the year and vaulted into top prospect lists after batting a combined .282 with a .794 OPS, 50 extra-base hits, and 27 steals over two Class-A levels.

A transition from the outfield to second base to begin the 2018 season coincided with a drop in production, with some sense that the position change affected what he was able to do at the plate. That’s not terribly uncommon.

Baseball America also noted in its trade analysis that Jones’ swing was constantly being changed in the Angels’ system, which also hindered his development, but said that he finished 2019 in a good place with his swing. He finished strongly that season and carried that into the Angels’ alternate training site.

Jones is the type of player the Orioles might target for several reasons beyond just his draft pedigree and the six years of club control they’ll have with him. He’s been durable over his minor league career, and he’s also been young for his level at almost every stop. He was 21 years old in his full season at Double-A in 2019 — one of just 11 players who logged at least 500 plate appearances in the high minors at that age or younger in the last full minor league season.

It took Jones some time to take to the level, but he hit .306 with a .799 OPS in his last 51 games of 2019.

His plate discipline is also an asset. Over the past three minor league seasons, he’s addressed some of the challenges he’s had chasing pitches outside the zone, presenting chase rates around 20% while the big league average has hovered around 30% for a decade.

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Jones has also grown into some strength, with his average exit velocity climbing in each of his past three pro seasons. Same goes for his percentage of hard contact, all indicators that match the Orioles’ developing hitting philosophy of trying to drive the ball to the wall on a line with every swing.

What data the Orioles had from the Angels’ alternate site and what was kept private is unclear, but it’s not difficult to see a player whose underlying statistics over the past few years are trending in a good direction.

All this isn’t to say that Jones is going to be at Camden Yards any time soon. As Elias showed in keeping Austin Hays, DJ Stewart, Chance Sisco and Ryan Mountcastle in the minors at various times in the past two years, the Orioles aren’t going to rush anyone to the majors just because he’s already debuted or is knocking on the door.

But with Jones, and to an extent Vavra as well, the Orioles are diversifying their trade acquisition portfolio with players who address their high-minors infield deficiency and could provide value in the near- and long-term. Those two specifically could get extended chances at second base in the next year or two before someone like Jordan Westburg is ready to take his chance, and Jones’ center field ability gives the Orioles another option should neither Hays nor Cedric Mullins take hold of that job in 2021.

It’s hard to blame Elias for using the earlier trades to target younger players who are farther from the majors. They can be easiest to pry from other teams, and at the stage of their rebuild the Orioles were in, it made sense to address those parts of their unbalanced farm system.

But there’s also a risk in touting trade acquisitions as near-term solutions to problems at the major league level. It took until Dean Kremer’s debut in late 2020 for the Manny Machado trade with the Los Angeles Dodgers in July 2018 to produce major league value, even though Kremer, Yusniel Diaz and the rest of the acquisitions all were at Double-A and looked to be on the fast-track to the big leagues.

Acquiring legitimate prospects who are on the cusp of the big leagues, though, simply isn’t common anymore. The Orioles are paying for the privilege in the form of the money they sent to Los Angeles to pay Cobb’s contract, but a team that has touted the future above all else might get to showcase a signature addition a lot sooner than recent trade hauls.

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SPRING TRAINING

Key dates for the Orioles’ preseason preparations in Sarasota, Florida:

Feb. 10: Pitchers and catchers report

Feb. 21: Position players report

Feb. 27: First exhibition game vs. Atlanta Braves