Moon shots and mob movies: Jhonkensy Noel’s bid to be Guardians’ next big home run hitter

Listed at 6-foot-3 and 250 pounds, Cleveland Guardians outfielder Jhonkensy Noel is not sneaking up on anyone this year. (Wikipedia)

By Zack Meisel / The Athletic

On an overcast March morning, Jhonkensy Noel, an outfielder for the Cleveland Guardians, bobbed his head, bounced his knees, mouthed some lyrics and then stepped into the batting cage and obliterated some baseballs. Afterward, he returned to bobbing his head.

“I’ve seen him mad, like, once,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said, “and it’s scary, so I’m glad he’s a jolly person. He’s always in a good mood. He loves baseball. He loves working. He loves playing.”

His smile illuminates the clubhouse. This spring, he would take his hacks, then head home to watch a crime-filled thriller. One day it was “A Bronx Tale.” The next, it was “Casino.” “Red Dawn” was waiting.

He is in control of his own destiny. Listed at 6-foot-3 and 250 pounds, he is not sneaking up on anyone this year, not after the way he delivered for Cleveland’s lineup last summer and in October.

He is now on everyone’s radar: Guardians evaluators, opposing pitchers, the fans sitting in the left-field bleachers at Progressive Field. He is a home run threat in any stadium.

During the Guardians’ season-opening series against the Royals at Kansas City, in which he was 1 for 4, Noel dismissed the notion that Kauffman Stadium’s spacious outfield makes life tough on those built like him.

“They say it’s too big,” Noel said, “but when you have power, nothing is too big for you.”

If he hits, Noel, initially slated to share right field with Nolan Jones, should have no trouble earning more at-bats. He ranked among the major league leaders in bat speed and barrel rate last season.

“We know Jhonkensy could probably hit 50 homers,” his teammate David Fry said.

The question, of course, is whether he will make enough contact to stay in the lineup, whether he can resist pitches off the plate thrown only to tempt him. He ranked near the bottom of the leaderboard in chase and whiff rates.

“They say if you love something, you have to work for it,” Noel, 23, said.

So that’s what he has done, though it will take some time for him to learn if he can be a more patient hitter. No one is expecting him to revamp his profile. He is a giant made to mash mistakes, though he noted, “You’re not always going to hit the ball 110 all the time.”

That’s why he said, “People don’t know, but I love bloopers.”

If he can demonstrate more selectiveness, it will make him even more imposing.

“He’s on a mission,” Vogt said. “I’m excited to see the year he’s going to put together.”

Brayan Rocchio, a Guardians shortstop, has an image on his phone: He and Noel are in a dugout at the club’s complex in the Dominican Republic. They are each 16, two skinny players who have no idea what challenges their journey to the big leagues will present.

The two bonded over the photo at a recent team gathering. They laughed about how young they looked and marveled that they reached the majors together and enjoyed postseason success as rookies.

“We both have a lot of confidence now,” Rocchio said, “because the team knows what we can do in those moments.”

Noel does not tire from watching the replay of his ninth-inning blast against the New York Yankees in Game 3 of the American League Championship Series. He loves hearing about it from fans, especially the ones who recount how they left the game early only to hustle back to the turnstiles when he sent Luke Weaver’s change-up spinning toward Lake Erie.

Rocchio commended Noel for staying prepared on the bench, for making himself ready to meet the moment at a crucial point of the game and season.

Noel said that he does not typically crave the spotlight, but that he has been humbled by how often he hears from strangers — at the airport, the supermarket, even walking around Cleveland, where, thanks to his size and smile, he sticks out like a January heat wave.

He wears it as a badge of honor because when he was growing up in San Pedro de Macoris in the Dominican Republic, his childhood was divided into three components: “School, baseball and home,” he said. When he was 12, his parents pulled him out of school and entered him into a baseball academy.

“Where I come from,” he added, speaking about his neighborhood, “I’m the first person to make it to the big leagues.”

Before that life-changing homer, Noel was swinging away in the batting cage beneath Progressive Field, adjacent to the Guardians’ weight room. His swing felt fluid. He could feel in his hips and legs that he was on time and ready to pounce on a pitch. That particular session checked every box.

“I knew I was going to do something,” he said.

When Lane Thomas battled back from an 0-2 count to extend the game with a double off the wall, Noel knew he could complete the mission. In the stands, his father, Rafael, sat with the slugger’s agent. It was Rafael’s first visit to the United States, and he left with quite a memory.

Noel does not like talking baseball with his father, who tends to question swing decisions as if a split-second is ample time for a hitter to determine whether he can pummel a 92-mph slider on the outside corner. Over the winter, Noel and his father watched games at a facility in the Dominican. A hitter waved at a fastball down the middle. Rafael Noel said, “Come on, man.” His son replied: “You see? It’s not easy. Go hit yourself.”

“Baseball can drive you crazy,” Jhonkensy Noel said, laughing.

He would know. He carried a .935 on-base plus slugging percentage into September in his rookie season, only to go 6 for 51 in September and then 1 for 15 before going to the plate with two outs in the bottom of the ninth of Game 3.

Noel is hoping his October heroics put an end to all father-son second-guessing. Even without his father in his ear, he knows his swing decisions will determine whether he can carve out a regular role with the Guardians.

“When he hits a big home run, he’s not smiling,” Vogt said. “It’s: ‘I did my job. Here we go. Let’s keep going.’ Off the field, he’s very smiley and engaged, but he knows how to lock it in, and that’s what makes him great.”

That’s why, for Noel, it’s all about baseball and becoming a more threatening hitter — at least, when he’s not watching mob movies.

“That’s how I’m learning to home in,” he said. “Do my best, put my clothes on and go home and watch a movie. Today, I’m going to go watch ‘The Godfather.’”