The New York Yankees dropped their non-roster invites to spring training on Tuesday morning, which included one of their top prospects, Spencer Jones. The 22-year-old outfielder enjoyed his second season in the Yankees’ minor league system last year, playing 117 games between High-A Hudson Valley and Double-A Somerset.
With Somerset toward the end of the 2023 campaign, Jones hit .261/.333/.406, including three homers and 10 RBIs, with a 28.2% strikeout rate and 9% walk rate.
Jones is Working Out the Kinks in His Armor
Jones struggled with his whiff rate and inability to make quality contact consistently. However, he’s been working diligently at Vanderbilt this off-season to not only improve his swing path but to elevate his launch angle, which should result in more home runs.
Over the 117-game sample size last year, Jones only hit 16 homers, but the Yankees know he has generational power, hitting 114 mph on max exit velocity, suggesting that he could hit 20+ homers per season at the MLB level to start his career. Getting an opportunity during spring training should showcase his talents and allow him to test new tweaks against high-level opposition. That’s exactly what Anthony Volpe did in 2023, and it won him the starting shortstop job over Oswald Peraza.
However, Jones isn’t only considered a dominant bat, he has blazing speed at 6’6″ and 235 pounds. He swiped 43 bags last season between both minor-league teams and has the capacity to play every outfield position position.
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The Yankees Could Consider Jones Their Future CF
At the moment, the Yankees have Aaron Judge slotted into centerfield, which may not be a sustainable long-term move. Both Jones and Jasson Dominguez could take over at the position in 2025, but the former of the two has better athleticism and a quality arm as a former pitcher.
Many prospect ranking systems have Dominguez and Jones interchangeable based on their grades. Jones is two years older and hasn’t cracked the MLB team just yet, but this upcoming season could set the stage for his promotion, and many are anticipating in his MLB debut.