Tyler Freeman Shares Wild Details About Trade from Guardians

Tyler Freeman shares how he and Nolan Jones realized the Cleveland Guardians and Colorado Rockies pulled off a trade for each other.

Tommy Wild | Mar 25, 2025

May 24, 2024; Anaheim, California, USA; Cleveland Guardians outfielder Tyler Freeman (2) reacts before a baseball game against the Los Angeles Angels at Angel Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jessica Alcheh-Imagn Images / Jessica Alcheh-Imagn Images

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Cleveland Guardians

The Cleveland Guardians drafted Nolan Jones and Tyler Freeman in back-to-back years back in 2016 and 2017.

The duo came up through the farm system together, and each made their MLB debuts in 2022. To this day, they remain good friends.

That made Saturday's trade between the Guardians and Colorado Rockies that much wilder.

Freeman and Jones were each pulled from their upcoming and ongoing Spring Training games. As Freeman began to piece together what was happening, his phone rang, and it was his good friend Jones.

Jones told Freeman, "I was pulled. I think I'm traded." Freeman laughed and replied, "Brother, I think I'm traded, too."

Nolan Jones and Tyler Freeman, friends from their time together with Cleveland, Face Timed each other to say they had been traded.

Eventually, they realized the Rockies and Guardians had them for each other. pic.twitter.com/N2m551JynJ
— Patrick Lyons (@PatrickDLyons) March 24, 2025

The two started to connect the dots, and the friends realized they might have just been traded for one another.

"We kind of put two and two together. Obviously, nothing was official. Once we both found out, we called each other and were like, 'Dude, we just got traded for each other.'"

Being traded isn't easy, and players can experience many emotions after the transaction goes through.

At least Freeman and Jones can look back on this deal and laugh, realizing that the two good friends were traded for one another.

Plus, each player should flourish with their new team, making this trade a win-win for every party involved.

Jones is set to get plenty of at-bats and playing time against right-handed pitching, and Freeman should play every day in Colorado's infield mix.

There are plenty of reasons why each player could look back on this deal and smile.

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