Daryl Jones Breakout

by Dfarth on Aug 24, 2025 1:12 PM EDT

The breakout thread above turned my attention to one guy who has really been blowing up the last few weeks - Daryl Jones. Jones is a lefthanded leftfielder currently playing for the Cardinals' AA affiliate in Springfield. He was drafted out of HS in 2005 in the third round. At the time, here was the comment from MLB.com:

"COMMENT: Medium-small frame. Athletic build. Similar to Otis Nixon. Short, compact, line drive stroke. Uses hand quickness and wiry strength to drive the ball. Uses whole field. Speed to play short game. Playable arm w/ future plus defensive skills."

After being drafted, Jones really struggled for his first couple of seasons - failing to hit above .300, post an OBP over .400, or SLUG over .500 at any of his stops. Not surprisingly, he failed to make John's STL top 20 this past offseason.

Year	Team	Lg	Age	Org.	Level	Pos	Ln	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	HBP	IBB	SH	SF	DP
2005	Johns City	App	18	Stl	Rk	of		61	182	36	38	6	1	2	10	10	4	15	41	13	0	0	2	6
2006	Johns City	App	19	Stl	Rk	of		20	68	15	18	3	1	3	13	3	0	8	8	3	0	0	0	1
	Quad City	Midw	19	Stl	A	of		26	81	15	19	5	1	1	7	2	3	6	23	3	0	1	1	1
2007	Quad Cties	Midw	20	Stl	A	of		127	419	71	91	15	3	4	31	22	12	41	94	13	1	4	4	8

AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS	GB%
.209	.311	.286	597	--
.265	.367	.471	838	--
.235	.308	.358	666	--
.217	.304	.296	600	--

However, the light has apparently clicked on this season, as Jones was one of the better players in the FSL (as a 20 year old for most of that time) and has now been even better at AA.

Year  Age Tm  Lg  Lvl Aff   G    AB    R    H   2B  3B  HR  RBI  BB   SO    BA   OBP   SLG 
+----+----+---+---+---+---+----+-----+----+----+---+---+---+----+----+----+-----+-----
 2008   21 PBC FSL A+  STL   87   307   43  100  11   7   7   35   33   67  .326  .406  .476
           SPG TEX AA  STL   27    91   15   29   4   1   5   12   21   20  .319  .461  .549

As you can see, he's been on fire for Springfield. To make things even more impressive, he really struggled initially at Springfield. However, since the calendar turned to August, he has been absolutely awesome - hitting .361/.513/.623/1.135 with 4HR, 4SB, and a really impressive 18BB/14K. All this to say, I think Jones has turned himself into a very intriguing prospect.

I guess I'll finish by asking the obligatory questions; where does he rank on the STL Top 20?; do you think he makes the top 100?; does he profile as an MLB regular?; has anyone seen him in person?; etc. Or, just discuss.

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?n=Daryl%20Jones&pos=RF&sid=milb&t=p_pbp&pid=457801

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Comments

Re: STL Top 20

Baseball America ranked him the 10th best prospect in the system in 2007. Obviously he didn’t hit enough that season to stay highly ranked, but with this breakout performance I have to think he’ll rocket up their list.

by mateodh on Aug 24, 2025 4:33 PM EDT reply reply 0 recs

cardinals' top prospects

i would rank the cardinals’ top prospects like this

1. Colby Rasmus
2. Jaime Garcia
3. Chris Perez
4. Brett Wallace
5. Bryan Anderson
6. Daryl Jones

he is pretty high on the list

by fewgoodcards on Aug 24, 2025 7:41 PM EDT reply reply 0 recs

What do you think of his upside?

It’s hard to think of too many guys that are as athletic as he is that have good plate discipline as well. Somewhere in-between Coco Crisp and Grady Sizemore?

by Dfarth on Aug 24, 2025 7:56 PM EDT up reply reply 0 recs

re

more similar to kenny lofton imo, minus the 80 speed (jones is around 70).

by ScottAZ on Aug 25, 2025 11:55 AM EDT up reply reply 0 recs

less speed than Lofton

But I think his hr/slg% indicate he might be capable of more power (15-20 HR).

Now raise your goblet of rock. It's a toast to those who rock!

by Dewey Finn on Aug 25, 2025 12:04 PM EDT up reply reply 0 recs

Not That I Hate that Comp

But I don’t think Lofton ever showed the type of power potential that Jones is showing right now. Jones has 5HR since being promoted to AA in July. Kenny had 6HR total in 3.5 minor league seasons. When you consider the fact that at age 21 Lofton was just starting in the NYP League and that Jones is now in AA at the same point - I def. think there is more power potential for Jones.

On the other hand, I don’t think there’s a chance in hell that Jones comes anywhere close to the basestealer Lofton was.

by Dfarth on Aug 25, 2025 12:39 PM EDT up reply reply 0 recs

true

I was going on what I thought Jones would do in the majors. From 1994-2003 Lofton was good for 10-15 homers a year, I’m think that will be the range of Jones, although some are predicting 20+ (Granderson like).

Also, from that same time period Lofton hit for an ave of .317 with spikes at .347 and .333. I’m not sure Jones will ever hit that high.

LOL, I really didn’t look at the numbers, just their similar sizes, being lefty, etc.

by ScottAZ on Aug 25, 2025 12:56 PM EDT up reply reply 0 recs

I don't think Chris Perez

is still a prospect.

www.loftylantern.com

by OldProspects on Aug 25, 2025 3:13 AM EDT up reply reply 0 recs

perez

i think baseball america uses 50 innings as their cut off. perez just passed 30.

by fewgoodcards on Aug 26, 2025 8:30 PM EDT up reply reply 0 recs

Curtis Granderson with more walks and less K's

by Bravesin07 on Aug 24, 2025 8:03 PM EDT reply reply 0 recs

granderson

that’s the comp that’s been going around the cardinals’ board.

by fewgoodcards on Aug 24, 2025 8:41 PM EDT up reply reply 0 recs

Agreed

Daryl Jones looks like he is developing into the Cardinals’ leadoff hitter of the future.

Now raise your goblet of rock. It's a toast to those who rock!

by Dewey Finn on Aug 24, 2025 10:56 PM EDT up reply reply 0 recs

Pretty bold comp.

by N. Frederick Cody on Aug 31, 2025 2:27 PM EDT up reply reply 0 recs

Jones

DJ is 3-3 tonight with his 6th AA homer. dude just keeps mashing.

by fewgoodcards on Aug 24, 2025 8:47 PM EDT reply reply 0 recs

Call me crazy...but...

I think this kid might be better than Austin Jackson.

Now raise your goblet of rock. It's a toast to those who rock!

by Dewey Finn on Aug 24, 2025 10:25 PM EDT reply reply 0 recs

better than jackson

jackson has a lot more doubles, but jones has shown more over the fence power and more speed. of course jackson actually has a history of success, but jones is having a huge year.

by fewgoodcards on Aug 24, 2025 11:15 PM EDT up reply reply 0 recs

Yeah

I’m just really intrigued by Jones ability to draw walks, combined with good pop/speed.

Ajax does have the better track record. However, it’s hard to ignore DJ’s numbers.

Both are excellent prospects no doubt.

Now raise your goblet of rock. It's a toast to those who rock!

by Dewey Finn on Aug 24, 2025 11:25 PM EDT up reply reply 0 recs

So I Did Some Checking

And I found this:

http://footballrecruiting.rivals.com/viewprospect.asp?pr_key=21451

I gotta admit - if all that stuff is accurate, I may have just become his biggest fan. A 37-inch vertical and a 4.1 GPA? 4.45 speed? Heck, just the fact that he was a 3* recruit in football is pretty impressive. It also might explain why it’s taken him a while to really adjust to baseball…

by Dfarth on Aug 25, 2025 12:40 AM EDT reply reply 0 recs

WOW

He might become a VERY exciting player.

Now raise your goblet of rock. It's a toast to those who rock!

by Dewey Finn on Aug 25, 2025 11:41 AM EDT up reply reply 0 recs

Where does he fit in?

I know it’s a little early to be worried about it, but the Cards seem to have a pretty full OF, with Ludwick, Ankiel and Rasmus looking to be the starters in 2009. The interesting thing is if they were to trade away Ludwick, they could have 3 legit CF’s playing the OF in 2010, with Ankiel, Jones and Rasmus.

I’m sure Cards fans would love to see Jones transition to 2B, which has been a problem spot for that team for a very long time. But I don’t even know if that would be feasible.

by guru4u on Aug 25, 2025 11:56 AM EDT reply reply 0 recs

I don't either

Jones is left handed.

Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue.

by Dave Barry on Aug 25, 2025 2:45 PM EDT up reply reply 0 recs

I wrote this awhile ago but....

http://baseballhandyman.blogspot.com/2008/07/tale-of-two-prospects-desmond-jennings.html

I think it gives a lot of information on Daryl Jones. I like him a lot and took some heat for saying I’d rather have him than Desmond Jennings. I think people might begin to agree with me.

Mike Newman
baseballhandyman.blogspot.com

by Baseball Handyman on Aug 26, 2025 7:59 PM EDT reply reply 0 recs

Don't look now, but Brent Brewer's coming on a little bit

He’s up to .253/.314/.356, which is terrible on the face of it, but is much better than he did in West Virginia at the beginning of the year, and Space Coast is really hell on righty power.

BCB's "very own marginally deserving all-star!"

by battlekow on Aug 28, 2025 4:14 AM EDT up reply reply 0 recs