Red Sox To Acquire Jahmai Jones

The Red Sox are acquiring outfielder Jahmai Jones from the Tigers, reports Alex Speier of The Boston Globe. Detroit, who designated Jones for assignment last week, will receive a player to be named later in return. Boston has had an open 40-man spot since left-hander Danny Coulombe was designated for assignment a couple of days ago, so Jones can fill that vacancy. Jones is out of options and will also need a spot on the active roster.

Jones, 28, showed the ability to be a very useful big league player with the Tigers last year. Added to the Detroit roster in June, he went on to take 150 plate appearances with the club last year. He put up a huge .287/.387/.550 slash in those, leading to a 159 wRC+. Most of that damage came in a short-side platoon role. The righty-swinging Jones was sent to the plate 122 times against southpaws but just 28 times without the platoon advantage.

The magic didn’t last into this year, however. He has 105 plate appearances this year, 88 of those against lefties, but has a .137/.219/.221 line overall and a .154/.250/.256 line with the platoon advantage. There is some bad luck in that dip. Jones has just a .190 batting average on balls in play, .204 against lefties, well below this year’s .289 league average BABIP. However, that’s not the only factor at play. Jones had a 12% walk rate and 21.3% strikeout rate last year but those figures are at 9.5% and 33.3% in 2026.

As mentioned, Jones is out of options, so he got squeezed off the Detroit roster. Boston will give him a spot and see if he can get back into last year’s form. The Sox have a number of lefties in their outfield mix, with Wilyer Abreu, Jarren Duran and Masataka Yoshida in there. All three have traditional platoon splits in their respective careers, though Abreu and Yoshida are both faring better against lefties in 2026. The Sox also have lefty Tsung-Che Cheng at shortstop. Jones has no experience at that position but could perhaps pinch-hit for Cheng in certain situations.

The Sox currently have Andruw Monasterio, Romy González and Nate Eaton as righty bats who can provide cover for the lefties. Monasterio is doing his part, with a .265/.342/.574 line and 146 wRC+ against lefties this year. González has done well as a lefty-masher in his career but has spent most of this season on the injured list due to shoulder debridement surgery. He was only reinstated off the IL late last month and hasn’t yet gotten into a groove in his 43 plate appearances so far this year.

Eaton hasn’t yet hit pitchers of either handedness in his career, with a combined .221/.292/.313 line in 307 plate appearances over four seasons. Each of Monasterio, González and Eaton have options but the latter seems mostly likely to be sent down, especially when considering his .125/.282/.281 line this season. Jones hasn’t been much better in 2026 but showed last year that he has the capacity for far better production.

It was reported last month that the Sox were looking for righty bats. For now, they will take a shot on Jones but he may have a short leash given his out-of-options status. The Sox also have guys like Trevor Story, Marcelo Mayer, Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Roman Anthony on the IL right now. As they come back, they will need roster spots. It’s also possible the Sox get a better righty bat ahead of the deadline and bump Jones off the roster.