Minor League Baseball tweeted out a photo of every state’s most popular minor leaguer. Two Diamondbacks prospects made the list, with outfielder Druw Jones getting Arizona and first baseman Ivan Melendez getting New Mexico.
It makes sense for Jones to be Arizona’s most popular minor leaguer. He is the son of former Braves center fielder Andruw Jones, who was a five-time All-Star and 10-time Gold Glove winner. The elder Jones could be enshrined in Cooperstown next July, in his 10th and final season on the ballot.
The Diamondbacks drafted Jones with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2022 MLB Draft, gambling on his lofty ceiling. He turned down a Vanderbilt commitment for a $8.919 million signing bonus, the largest in franchise history.
Druw Jones’ 2025 Season
Jones played the entire 2025 season with the Diamondbacks’ High-A affiliate, the Hillsboro Hops. While the full-season numbers don’t jump off the page, it’s hard to point out that he didn’t improve.
His early-season numbers weren’t particularly good. Through June 27, Jones was slashing .225/.300/.284 with no home runs, a 25.1% strikeout rate, and a 9.8% walk rate. He was hitting the ball on the ground, which was around 58% at the time, and struggling to pull pitches.
From June 28 onward, Jones saw massive improvements across the board. His strikeout rate dropped to 21.0% while upping the walk rate to 10.9%. He started hitting the ball in the air more, and to his pull field, leading to a spike in his batting metrics. He produced a .296/.380/.463 slash, good for a 130 wRC+ in one of the most pitcher-friendly parks in the minors.
Looking at his full-season batted ball profile on FanGraphs, Jones set the lowest ground ball rate (50.8%) and highest pull rate (39.3%). While there’s no data on how much of his line drive and fly ball contact was pulled, those two metrics in tandem suggest an improvement in his quality of contact. He’ll need to continue that trend as he faces stiffer competition in Double-A and Triple-A.
Druw Jones’ 2026 and Beyond Outlook
Jones will likely open up the 2026 season with Double-A Amarillo. It’s a big year for him, as he’ll become Rule 5 eligible for the first time following the season.
With a 40-man roster decision looming next November, Jones needs to break out offensively in 2026. As a former Top 2 draft pick, it’s unlikely the Diamondbacks leave him exposed for the other 29 teams to pluck for just $100K. But that decision also starts his 40-man clock no later than the 2027 season.
A strong 2026 season could have him knocking on the door for big league playing time. There isn’t a player on the active roster blocking him from earning the everyday center field role. Alek Thomas and Jake McCarthy are the top options on the roster, but the club could deal one of them for bullpen help.
Fellow outfielder Ryan Waldschmidt is the Diamondbacks’ consensus top prospect. However, he’s more suited to play a corner long-term. Slade Caldwell is another potential center field prospect in the system, but he is at least a full year behind Jones. Taking those into account, there is a window (2027-29) for the former No. 2 overall pick to secure the center field role long-term.
Jones has the potential to be a five-tool impact player in center field if the Diamondbacks can develop his hit tool. That’s been a slow and steady progress, as the club has had to break some bad habits he developed as an amateur.
As the Diamondbacks look to build a sustainable winner, Jones becomes a vital player to their success. It shows that the organization can develop a high-risk, high-reward prospect into a key contributor. They’ll need to be able to develop that kind of prospect if they want to close the seismic gap between them and the Dodgers.
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