Angels top prospect Jahmai Jones could be eyeing a move to second base

This morning, I got a text message from our very own Rex Clevinger, who as you all know by now is back in Tempe, AZ to cover the Angels’ camp for Halos Heaven. Before opening the message, I was assuming it was just him sharing a pic or two from a really cool event he got to partake in earlier today, in which Wilson (the sporting goods giant) doled out some custom baseball gloves that they had made up for a bunch of Angels players.

You’re going to hear more about that Wilson glove unveiling from Rex himself, later today, but he wasn’t just sending me a passing remark about his morning coverage or sharing an inconsequential photo. Nope, it turns out that Rex had just spoken with Jahmai Jones, a former 2nd round draft pick who is not only one of the Angels’ top prospects, but also a guy that shows up on many Top 100 overall prospect lists, and Jones gave him a quote that is pretty much impossible to be ignored.

Rex Clevinger

When Jahmai Jones came to get his Wilson swag, he grabbed an OF glove, which you would expect because that’s where he’s always played since he came into the Halosphere; however, he then asked to see some infielders gloves, as well. Halos Heaven then asked Jones what was up with him wanting an IF glove, and here’s what he said, verbatim: “I might be playing second base.”

WHAT?!?!

Now, that could be taken a few ways, I suppose; like maybe he was just going to be doing some drills there today, or some other reason that isn’t meant to be taken as a full on position change, but that’s not the inference that Rex got from the exchange. If we’re to take that comment at full face value, then that means Jahmai Jones is going to make a big positional move, from the outfield to the infield, and you know what? That would actually make a ton of sense.

First of all, he’s somewhat built like an infielder, as he is on the smaller side of current Halos OF prospects; at 6’0 tall, he’s a couple inches shorter than other outfielders in the organization, like Brandon Marsh and Jo Adell. Speaking of those guys, that is the second point that came to my head: The Angels, with dudes like Adell and Marsh, and guys in the upper tiers of the farm system, like Michael Hermosillo, have plenty of future outfielders. It’s a log jam, but the kind of log jam that you actually want in your system, since it means there is talent galore.

That leads me to my final point: Talent. Jahmai Jones has talent for days, and comes from a family of insanely talented athletes. This guy, in my opinion, could probably pick up a new position at the professional level, no problem. So there’s a lot to like and believe in his “I might be playing second base” comment, and it’s going to be something to monitor, to put it very mildly.

Again, it would make sense, and you have to admit that it doesn’t seem like a stretch whatsoever to think that Billy Eppler would see this kid’s raw, athletic tools and implement them at a position where the Halos have barely any organizational depth. The 2B spot in the future isn’t anything to gush over at the moment...that is, unless Jahmai Jones suddenly has a 2B next to the OF on his player profile page. We’ll just have to wait and see if anything comes of this, I guess.