Former Top Prospect Jahmai Jones Finally Hits 1st Career Home Run With New York Yankees

It may have taken him a while, but Jahmai Jones has finally gone yard in the big leagues.

Jones has been on the New York Yankees' active roster since Opening Day, but he was making just his second start of the season Sunday against the Tampa Bay Rays. He started in left field and batted ninth in the lineup, boasting a .167 batting average and .333 OPS entering the contest.

Jones wound up putting the Yankees on top 2-0 by leading off the third inning with a solo home run. With an exit velocity of 109.5 miles per hour and a launch angle of 21 degrees, Jones was only able to send the ball 383 feet, but it still cleared the fence in left.

It marked Jones' first homer of 2024, which isn't all too surprising considering he had only made six plate appearances prior to Sunday.

However, it also happened to be the first home run of Jones' major league career, which is notable considering the 26-year-old made his MLB debut all the way back in 2020.

Jahmai Jones hits his first career home run! pic.twitter.com/33bk7aWL2y
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) May 12, 2024

Jones' was the Los Angeles Angels' second round pick in the 2015 MLB Draft. By the start of the 2018 season, he was viewed as a consensus top 100 prospect in baseball.

Over the next two years, though, Jones' production plateaued in Double-A. Even though the Angels called Jones up to appear in three games in the COVID-shortened 2020 season, they were more than willing to trade him to the Baltimore Orioles for veteran starter Alex Cobb.

Jones got cut by the Orioles midway through 2021 after appearing in 26 regular season games. He latched on with the Los Angeles Dodgers soon after, but he never reached the big leagues and was let go in 2022.

The Milwaukee Brewers were the next team to take a flier on Jones, and they let him play seven MLB games in 2023 before waiving him this past offseason. The Yankees then claimed Jones in February.

Jones had recorded 96 MLB plate appearances across 46 games entering Sunday. He is currently a .185 career hitter with a .496 OPS.

Even though Jones has never exactly been a power hitter, he still has 61 home runs in 687 minor league games. He hit a home run in one out of every 49 plate appearances in the minors, and that rate got cut in half once he reached the majors.

Now, Jones can officially say he has hit an MLB home run.

The Yankees currently lead the Rays 6-0 in the top of the sixth, needing a win to claim a series victory.

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