The Detroit Tigers‘ July trade of closer Joakim Soria to the Pittsburgh Pirates isn’t working out too well at the moment. According to Yahoo Sports’ Jeff Passan, the prospect the Pirates dealt to Detroit, shortstop JaCoby Jones, was suspended Thursday for 50 games because of a second positive test for a “drug of abuse.”
Jones, who played his college baseball at LSU, is the 10th-rated prospect in the Tigers’ farm system, splitting time between Double-A and advanced Single-A ball during 2015. He hit .257 with 16 home runs and 80 RBI in 133 games combined this season.
He wowed fans upon his arrival to the Tigers organization, hitting three home runs during his third game with the Erie SeaWolves of Double-A ball. MiLB has the replay of his third home run, where his strength was on display:
While he has shown promise in the power department, he has plenty of work to do just putting the ball in play, as Tigers assistant general manager David Chadd told Chris McCosky of the Detroit News: “We’d like to see him cut the strikeouts down and be more patient at the plate. It’s hard to do. It’s hard to ask a young power hitter to have knowledge of the strike zone this early in his career.”
The 23-year-old’s chances are running out, as many organizations will not likely have patience for such offenses.
Stats courtesy of MiLB.com.
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