Sal's Take On Spencer Jones

By Sal Maiorana

May 11, 2026

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Sal Maiorana shares his thoughts on the Yankees.

Here is an edited version of Sal's latest article.

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For the past couple years, power-hitting strikeout machine outfielder Spencer Jones has been one of the most polarizing of all the highly-regarded Yankees prospects.

He mesmerizes fans with his Aaron Judge-like power as he hits home runs that are measured on the Richter scale. But he also drives you nuts because his swing and miss is off the charts. Think Giancarlo Stanton when he’s enduring one of those awful weeks where he swings and misses at pitches that he couldn’t hit with a six-foot bat.

The highs and lows with Jones have been staggering, and it was beginning to feel like he was going to end up being nothing more to the Yankees than a trade chip because there was also the matter of the crowded roster - there was no place for him, especially once Trent Grisham and Cody Bellinger returned to the team.

Well, now there is.

The No. 25 overall draft pick in the 2022 draft will turn 25 years old on May 14, and there’s a good chance he’s going to be celebrating his quarter-century birthday somewhere in the big city while the Yankees enjoy their next day off between their series in Baltimore and the one they’ll play next weekend against the crosstown rival Mets at Citi Field.

That’s because the Yankees’ No. 6 prospect on MLB Pipeline is finally going to make his MLB debut this weekend when the Yankees play the Brewers in Milwaukee. Jones is being called up from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre because Jasson Dominguez crashed into the left-field wall at Yankee Stadium Thursday and suffered a concussion and sprained shoulder which will send him to the injured list.

With Stanton also on the IL, Jones now has a chance and it’s going to be fascinating to see what he does with this opportunity.

Jones has been unable to break into MLB because for all of his majestic home runs - 83 across 415 games as he has made his way through the system - the athletic 6-foot-7, 240-pounder can’t stop striking out. He whiffed a staggering 36.8% of the time at Double-A in 2024, then it was 33.7% in 2025 before he moved up to Triple-A. When he got there, nothing changed as he closed 2025 at a 35.4% clip and thus far in 2026, it’s still an untenable 32.4%.

Of 217 qualified Triple-A hitters, only 14 have a worse strikeout rate. As for qualified MLB hitters, only seven are currently striking out in more than 33% of their at bats.

However, when the kid makes contact, it’s something to see and in 100 Triple-A games his slash line is .269/.350/..567 for an OPS of .917.

Jones started slowly this year and through eight games - a few of which I watched live in Rochester - he struck out 51.4% of the time and he looked about as unlikely to get to the Yankees as you or I. But since then he has started to find his way, cutting that rate in half to 25.7% and his 41 RBI in 33 games lead all of Triple-A while his 11 homers are tied for second.

“Feel like the last three, four weeks, been having a lot of consistent at-bats,” Aaron Boone said Thursday when it became known Jones was coming to the show. “The power’s been there. Less swing and miss. The signs have been encouraging.”

Jones can play all three outfield positions and DH but his best position is center field. The difference between him and Dominguez is that Jones is a solid defender, so that could pave the way for playing time as Aaron Judge can get off his feet and DH in Stanton’s absence, and then Boone can figure out where to play Jones, Grisham and Bellinger. My guess is they’ll DH him so he can concentrate solely on hitting.

“That’s a large man that hits the ball very far,” Bellinger said of Jones. “Honestly, a freak athlete, too. I didn’t know (about) the speed. He’s very athletic, moves well, so yeah, just a good baseball player.”

Ryan McMahon added, "I'm a big fan of Spencer's. He can do a lot of good things on the baseball field.”