Yankees' Spencer Jones and 5 things to know about the club's No. 6 prospect
Yankees' Spencer Jones pictured during spring training at George M. Steinbrenner Field on Feb. 17, 2026, in Tampa, Fla. Credit: Newsday/J. Conrad Williams Jr.
The long-awaited Yankees debut of Spencer Jones is imminent.
Jones will be called up from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Friday, a source confirmed to Newsday. Though it came at the expense of Jasson Dominguez, who suffered a low-grade AC joint sprain of his left shoulder on Thursday after crashing into the leftfield wall while making a catch on the first play of the Yankees' 9-2 win over the Rangers.
Jones, who turns 25 next Thursday, is expected to make his MLB debut in Milwaukee this weekend.
Here are five things to know about the Yankees' slugger.
1. 'Special' power
Jones, who is lefthanded, has 11 homers in 33 games with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre this season. Last year, he launched 35 in 116 games between Triple-A and Double-A. Jones has hit four homers in six games this month, including a two-homer performance that featured a grand slam on Sunday. He also had six homers in 13 spring training games this year. Jones’ 41 RBIs this season lead all of baseball (minors and MLB).
Yankees infielder Max Schuemann said Thursday that Jones’ power is “special” and thinks he’ll be successful at the big-league level.
“That’s a large man that hits the ball very far,” Cody Bellinger said.
2. The size
As Bellinger said, Jones indeed is a large man; he is listed at 6-7, 240 pounds. According to MLB.com researcher Sarah Langs, the Yankees will be the first MLB team on record with multiple position players who are at least 6-7 in the same season, the other obviously being the 6-7, 282-pound Aaron Judge. Jones has a fascinating set-up at the plate and tweaked his stance in the offseason. He starts in a crouched, open stance, then comes into a traditional stance in which his front foot will be pointed toward the ground before swinging away.
3. The strikeout issue
Perhaps the biggest flaw in Jones’ game is his high strikeout rate. Jones had a 35.4% strikeout rate last season, striking out 179 times in 506 plate appearances. He has a 32.4% strikeout rate this season, striking out 46 times in 142 plate appearances. Jones also has a 43.3% whiff percentage this season, according to Baseball Savant.
“After maybe the second week in Triple-A, where he struggled a little bit with the swing and miss, he's cleaned that up,” Aaron Boone said Thursday.
4. The pedigree
While Jones’ size has drawn obvious comparisons to Judge, he has been on MLB radars for the better part of the past decade. The Angels selected the Encinitas, California, native in the 31st round of the 2019 MLB Draft, but he enrolled at Vanderbilt University. He initially was a two-way player at Vanderbilt, but Tommy John surgery in 2020 led to him becoming a full-time hitter. Jones had a 1.103 OPS as a junior in 2022, the year the Yankees selected him 25th overall and signed him for $2.88 million. He was named to the MLB.com’s All-MiLB prospect first team last year, and the Yankees added him to their 40-man roster last Nov. 18. According to MLB.com, Jones currently is the Yankees’ No. 6 prospect, though he was as high as No. 2 in the system in 2024.
5. The athleticism
Bellinger also noted Thursday that Jones is a “freak athlete.” He has seven stolen bases with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre this season and 116 stolen bases in 415 career minor-league games. Defensively, Jones spent most of his time in Triple-A this season in centerfield (22 starts) but also had five starts in leftfield and two in rightfield. The MLB.com scouting report describes Jones as a “capable centerfielder with average range” and “average arm strength.”
Ben Dickson is Newsday Sports' general assignment reporter. He joined Newsday’s high school sports staff in 2023 after graduating from Maryland, where he covered several of the Terrapins' teams.
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