Once a starstruck teen, Jones now standing tall beside his idols

MILWAUKEE -- When Rockies rookie Nolan Jones flexes his considerable muscle, no part of the park can hold him. And no part of any room can escape the glow of his youthful smile.

In the Rockies’ 7-3, 10-inning victory over the Brewers at Miller Park on Tuesday night, Jones lashed an opposite-field homer to left off veteran starter Wade Miley in the fourth inning, and achieved his first career two-homer game with a pull shot to right off Elvis Peguero in the seventh. He even added some subtlety in the 10th by overcoming an 0-2 count against Abner Uribe for a sacrifice fly.

Now the man of the evening, Jones not long ago was a teenager wanting to be like the guys he shares a clubhouse with today, Kris Bryant and Charlie Blackmon among them.

“In 2016 I was drafted by [Cleveland], and I got to watch a Rookie of the Year, KB, go win a World Series [with the Cubs],” Jones said. “I told him -- I probably shouldn’t have -- but I had a picture of him in my room. He was playing third base at the time. He was a superstar. I wanted to be like Kris Bryant.

“I got here and he kind of took me under my wing a little bit. I get to watch and learn from him. Charlie Blackmon, the same way. Chuck has been in the league forever and he’s had a ton of success. I think every single pitcher that gets on the mound, Chuck has something for me, so I’m able to pick his brain.”

If not for injuries to Bryant and Blackmon, Jones, 25, might be watching his mentors from as far away as Triple-A Albuquerque. But with Bryant nursing a fractured left index finger and Blackmon on an uneven comeback from a fractured right hand, Jones is thriving and receiving mentorship.

Bryant has said that Jones reminds him of himself when he was younger, noting that he was a big third baseman who moved to the outfield.

Blackmon recently said, “It’s always really important to just get on the field at the big league level. You’re almost never prepared for it, because the competition is so good. Getting consistent reps is an opportunity to make an adjustment.”

Jones has run with his opportunity.

Called up and placed in the regular lineup in late May, Jones has 11 home runs and is batting .280 with an .871 OPS -- both team-leading figures. But in July he batted just .193 with 24 strikeouts in 62 plate appearances. He wasn't ready for the fastball, which encouraged pitchers to throw more of them.

Tuesday showed how Jones has learned to counterpunch, first against Miley, who induced a grounder in Jones' first at-bat in the second inning.

“My first at-bat, I said I wasn’t really seeing the difference between his cutter and slider,” Jones said. “Sometimes it just happens. He made a mistake [on a cutter in the fourth], and I took a good swing on it.”

That fourth-inning homer off Miley was reminiscent of a young Blackmon, who could drive homers to the opposite gap with the best. The homer off a slider from Peguero, who had just given up a 404-footer to Elias Díaz, was another growth marker.

“I love the opposite-field homer -- I love the pull homer better,” manager Bud Black said. “Eventually, he’s going to have to learn to pull the ball. He’s going to get a lot of fastballs on the inner part of the plate. He’s got to learn to get the head of the bat out front.”

On Monday, Jones struck out three times (and the Rockies fanned 16 times overall) in a 12-1 loss to the Brewers. But Jones’ performance on Tuesday helped the Rockies, who have largely struggled this season (45-68), improve to 3-2 halfway through a 10-game road trip, and 11-11 since the All-Star break. And he is learning how to be a winner.

“There are more mental goals for me -- try to stay as even-keeled as I can,” he said. “The lows are really tough. The thing I notice about great players, like guys I need to watch in the clubhouse and ones I saw with the Guardians, is you have to get out of those lows really quickly.

“I get to watch KB and Chuck. ... Seeing what they’ve already done in their careers and the way they still go about their business, it’s an eye-opener for me.”