The Brewers sent outfielder Greg Jones through outright waivers, relays Adam McCalvy of MLB.com. Milwaukee designated the speedster for assignment on Monday when they welcomed Jackson Chourio and Andrew Vaughn back from injury.
Jones was a first-round pick by the Rays out of UNC-Wilmington in 2019. A shortstop at the time, Jones had big tools as a switch-hitter with power and elite speed. However, concerns about his infield defense and pure hitting ability both turned out to be founded. The Rays moved Jones to center field by 2023. He hit for enough power and stole enough bases to secure a spot on their 40-man roster but never played in the Majors with Tampa Bay.
The Rays flipped Jones to Colorado for left-hander Joe Rock going into the 2024 season. Jones made a brief debut with the Rox and had an even smaller cameo with the White Sox as a waiver claim last year. After he suffered an injury while playing in Triple-A, Chicago released him. Jones finished the season on a minor league contract with Houston and signed an offseason non-roster deal with Milwaukee.
Milwaukee called Jones up in mid-April when Christian Yelich landed on the injured list. His 11 games and 22 plate appearances were career highs. Jones went 2-21 with nine strikeouts and was squeezed off the roster by Chourio and Vaughn. He’s out of options and needed to clear waivers before Milwaukee could assign him back to Triple-A.
This is Jones’ first career outright assignment. The only other time he’d cleared waivers was when Chicago released him, as injured players cannot be outrighted. As a result, he doesn’t have the right to refuse the assignment in favor of free agency. He’ll head back to Triple-A, where he’s a lifetime .262/.344/.438 hitter with 72 stolen bases but a 36.5% strikeout rate over 166 games.
