Signing Jahmai Jones to a minor league contract in the offseason has sort of ended up being one of the sneakier impactful moves of the Tigers' 2025 season. Jones was already a standout in spring training, but he's become a key bench bat since replacing Andy Ibáñez on the roster in early June. Ibáñez wasn't hitting lefty pitchers the way he used to, and then Jones came up and seamlessly slotted into that role.
In his very first at-bat as a Tiger, he cranked a homer off of lefty Cubs reliever Génesis Cabrera to give Detroit some extra reassurance in what was before a 2-1 game.