Alexander Wilson
The New York Yankees are almost certainly going to send both Jasson Dominguez and Spencer Jones to Triple-A Scranton before Opening Day, and honestly, it is hard to argue with the logic. The outfield is locked. Aaron Judge is in right. Cody Bellinger is in left on a five-year, $162.5 million deal. Trent Grisham is in center on his $22 million qualifying offer. The math does not work, and no amount of spring heroics from either prospect was going to change it.
Does that make it feel good? No. The Yankees will open the 2026 season with two of their best young hitters sitting in Scranton while a center fielder hitting .160/.250/.200 in spring camp holds down a starting job. That tension is real. But the plan is not wrong, even if the optics are uncomfortable.
Both players deserve to play every day. AAA gives them that. What it does not give them is a clear, straight-line path back to the Bronx. That part is messier, and worth thinking through carefully.
Why Dominguez Is the Easier Decision
Jasson Dominguez is 23 years old and has already proven he can play in the big leagues. He appeared in 429 plate appearances last season, hit .257 with a .719 OPS, and stole 23 bases. He is not a question mark in the same way Jones is. He is a known commodity who got squeezed out of a role by a healthy, locked-in roster.
To his credit, Dominguez has handled the situation with a maturity that is easy to overlook. “This is baseball, a lot of things can happen,” he said when reporters asked about the possibility of being optioned. “At the end of the day, depending on the situation, they got to do what’s best for the team. Whatever decision they make, I’ll be ready for it.”
That quote tells you a lot about where his head is. He spent the offseason playing winter ball, specifically to sharpen his defense and improve from the right side of the plate. “I feel like I’ve improved in my defense and my righty side, too,” Dominguez said. “It was a lot of players with a lot of experience, and I think that helped me a lot.”
This spring has backed that up. Dominguez is slashing .333/.343/.667 with three home runs, nine RBIs, a 28.6% strikeout rate, and a 148 wRC+. He has also shown flashes in center field, which matters. Aaron Boone has even floated the idea of giving him work there. “One of the things I appreciate about Jasson is how consistent a person he is,” Boone said. “He’s the same all the time. He has a good way about him. I’m not surprised, but I also think he continues to be a better pro.”
My prediction is straightforward: Dominguez is back in the Bronx within six weeks of the season starting. One injury to the outfield, a few rest days for Giancarlo Stanton, or a sustained Grisham slump is all it takes. If Grisham’s spring struggles carry into the regular season, the Yankees will be forced into that conversation faster than they expect. Dominguez is the first call they make. No question.
Jones Is the More Complicated Case
Spencer Jones is a different story, and I want to be honest about that. The talent is undeniable. This spring he is slashing .333/.429/.917 across 11 games, with four home runs, eight RBIs, a 227 wRC+, and that same 28.6% strikeout rate that everyone said would derail him. He is also a legitimate center fielder and runs well enough to play anywhere in the outfield. At 24 years old, he is better than what most teams have on their roster right now. The Yankees have already reassigned him to minor league camp.
Check his Fangraphs profile and the underlying data tells you what the eye test already does: this is a hitter with massive power, improving contact rates, and legitimate upside that the Yankees have been sitting on for two years now.
Last season in the minors, Jones combined for 35 home runs, 102 runs, 29 stolen bases, and a .274 average across Double-A and Triple-A, posting a 153 wRC+ in 116 games. That is not a prospect anymore. That is a player. “I think the biggest thing for me this spring is to focus on the little things that I do well: hitting the ball, playing good defense, and stealing bases,” Jones said earlier in camp.
The part that stings is that Jones himself seems to understand exactly what is happening here. “In my mind, this is the best organization to play for,” he said. “If opportunities come later, I think it’s for a good reason, and that’s because we’re trying to help the team win a World Series.” Patience wrapped in a sound bite. But I wonder how many more springs he has left in him to say it.
I wrote recently that the Yankees are playing a dangerous game with Spencer Jones, and I stand by that. His trade value erodes every month he sits in Scranton. His prospect rankings are already fading. The window to either use him or turn him into something meaningful is not wide open forever.
What Realistically Happens This Summer
Here is how I see the rest of 2026 playing out for both of them.
Dominguez will be used sporadically over the first two months, called up whenever an injury or scheduled rest day opens a window. If Grisham’s spring issues bleed into April and May, that window becomes a door. By June, if Dominguez is destroying Triple-A pitching the way he should be, the Yankees will have a hard time not finding him 400 plate appearances somewhere in the lineup. He gives them left field insurance, occasional DH reps, and center field flexibility if needed. He is the Swiss Army knife this roster quietly depends on.
Jones is more complicated. My honest read is that the Yankees are parking him in Scranton for most of 2026 and waiting for the calendar to flip to 2027, when Grisham’s qualifying offer comes off the books and Jones can step into the center field job at a cost-controlled price. That is the organizational calculus, and it is not wrong from a business standpoint. The problem is that baseball does not always wait for your timeline to catch up.
If two outfield injuries hit at once, Jones gets the call alongside Dominguez. If the offense sputters badly enough in the first half, the organization will face pressure to promote both. And if Jones tears through Scranton at a 140-plus wRC+ clip again, the noise from outside the building will be hard to ignore.
Boone put it plainly when asked about both players heading into camp: “We all think very highly of both of those guys. A lot can happen between now and March 25th.” A lot can happen after March 25th, too. That is exactly the point.
The Yankees have two MLB-caliber outfielders heading to a minor league affiliate while a 29-year-old coming off a career year hits .160 in Florida. There is discomfort in that picture. But the plan is not without logic, and if the summer plays out the way I expect it to, both players find their way back to the Bronx before the leaves turn.
The only question is whether it happens on the Yankees’ terms or whether an injury or a slump forces their hand.
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