A leap of faith has landed Jahmai Jones another shot at the major leagues.
Jones, 25, was signed to a one-year contract and added to the Milwaukee Brewers’ 26-man roster on Monday morning with Brian Anderson being placed on the paternity list.
He had been playing for the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Class AAA affiliate, Oklahoma City, but on Saturday exercised an opt-out clause in his contract that freed him up to sign with any other organization.
Jones had nothing lined up at that time, but not long afterwards the Brewers came calling with a surprise major-league opportunity.
“We were in Sugar Land playing the Astros in Triple-A, I opted out and I was waiting for the paper work to be finalized and seeing if I was going to get added to the Dodgers’ roster or traded or something,” Jones said . “Ultimately they granted my opt-out. Stayed the rest of the day in Sugar Land, next day flew out and went back to OKC, packed up all my stuff and a few hours later I’m getting a phone call, ‘You’ he’s going to Milwaukee.’
“I was like, ‘Sick. I’ve played in Nashville, played against some of the guys. And they were like, ‘No, you’re going to Milwaukee Milwaukee. I was like, ‘All right. Here we go.’
“To say that I was excited was an understatement.”
Jones was even more excited when he came off the bench to pinch-hit in the seventh inning of Monday’s game against the Chicago Cubs. He lined the first pitch he saw for a bases-clearing double, knotting the score at 6-6.
Jones arrives in Milwaukee with 29 games of major-league experience — three with the Los Angeles Angels in 2020 and 26 with the Baltimore Orioles in 2021. He was a .176 hitter over the course of those two stints.
A 2015 second-round pick of the Angels in 2015, Jones was hitting .293 with nine home runs and 34 runs batted in with an OPS of .970 in 62 games with Oklahoma City.
The vast majority of his playing time as a professional has come at second base and in center field.
“This is a player who opted out on a contract and really, there was some timing that was fortunate on our behalf and on his behalf,” manager Craig Counsell said before the game. “Brian Anderson’s wife is expecting hopefully today, so there was a roster need and it worked out.
“We lost Brian and replaced him with a right-handed (hitting) infielder. That’s the short term. Long-term, we’ll kind of see where it goes. He’s swung the bat very, very well this year. That’s probably the main thing we’re looking at.”
Jones has a minor-league option remaining, which will allow the Brewers to send him to Class AAA Nashville once Anderson returns. Andruw Monasterio is the other right-handed-hitting backup infielder currently on Milwaukee’s 26-man roster.
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Two other similar players in Mike Brosseau and Abraham Toro are also playing for the Sounds, so how it all shakes out from there for Jones will remain to be seen.
Ranked as a top-100 prospect while coming up with the Angels, Jones is playing for his fourth organization and is now a little more than 13 months removed from Tommy John surgery on his throwing elbow.
Throughout it all, he’s managed to keep a positive attitude and a smile on his face.
“Coming off of Tommy John and pretty much missing all of last year, the biggest thing was honestly just getting back to the game,” Jones said. “The production at Triple-A was great; I was surrounded by a lot of good people and people who just kept me level.
“The biggest thing was just trying to have some fun and play the game while I can. Now, let’s see how it plays here.”
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Brewers add Jahmai Jones as Brian Anderson goes on paternity list