Nolan Jones lit up as soon as the scoreboard mattered. He crushed two two-run home runs in Triple-A Albuquerque’s 9-4 Opening Night victory at Round Rock on Friday night.

“The season brings out the ‘compete mode’ in all of us,” said Jones, obtained in a trade with the Guardians during the offseason. “I’m not trying to hit two home runs. I’m not trying to hit any home runs. I’m just trying to hit the ball hard and put some runs on the board for us.”

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Jones, ranked by MLB Pipeline as the Rockies’ No. 17 prospect, hit his first homer off Rangers No. 14 prospect Cole Winn. The second was off John King, who has pitched in the Majors.

In Spring Training, Jones received 52 Cactus League at-bats as coaches became acquainted with him. He batted .192, and was optioned to Albuquerque to work with hitting coach Jordan Pacheco.

Jones is 6-foot-4, and sometimes it takes a while for such a lanky player to sync his swing. But game action against an opponent he has studied turned out to have a galvanizing effect Friday.

“Spring Training is typically a little bit difficult for me with the lack of [scouting] reports,” Jones said. “It's kind of getting ready for the season.

“It was our first day that we had a good scouting report on a pitcher and went over some things. I went into the game prepared and had a plan. Obviously, you’re not going to find success every day. [Friday] just happened to be one of those days where I was seeing the ball well, and everything played into my plan.”

The right hand of fate
Center fielder Brenton Doyle (Rockies' No. 16) was asked to clean up a flaw in his setup -- a habit of turning his top right hand inward, which can lengthen his swing. But after his eighth-inning homer on Friday, the only length anyone was talking about was the 438 feet the ball traveled.

“We had gotten him in such a good place last year, where there was rhythm in the body, rhythm in the hands, and he could handle pitches on the inner half,” Rockies player development director Chris Forbes said. “He came back and that setup was just a little more rigid.”

Homework assignments
Two MLB Pipeline Top 100 prospects -- outfielder Zac Veen (No. 27) and catcher Drew Romo (No. 84) will bring the spotlight to Double-A Hartford, which opens at home against Bowie on Thursday night. 

Their long stints in Major League camp allowed them to demonstrate their personality traits -- extreme aggressiveness for Veen, intensity from Romo. Those traits can make them successful if used in the right measurements.

Here’s what Forbes said to watch from both players:

On Veen: “Everything you’re talking about now is advanced refinement. We can’t take away his aggressiveness, but he’s got to understand his spots, understand what the scoreboard is telling him, on both sides of the ball -- in the box, in the outfield, on the bases. If he can refine that, he can be as ready as possible.

On Romo: “He wants to lead, and he’s learning to lead based on an organic presence. We kept him around [in camp] and let him get comfortable around these Major League guys. When he gets to Hartford, he’ll have his clubhouse, his guys.”