Should the Yankees Promote Their Number Two Prospect This Season?
Yet another outfielder making their way up the ranks for the New York Yankees. Yesterday, Spencer Jones, the Yankees’ number two prospect, was promoted from Double-A Somerset to Triple-A Scranton. Through 49 games with the Somerset Patriots, Jones logged a .272 batting average, a .389 on-base percentage, and a .594 slugging percentage. Jones was also tied for second place on the Double-A home run leaderboard with 16 home runs and 33 runs batted in. Since he was drafted in 2022, Jones was highly regarded in the farm system and was often compared to Aaron Judge. Although it has taken him longer to climb the ranks than other players drafted out of college, Jones is still the number two prospect in the system, ranked behind only George Lombard Jr.
Throughout his first season in the Yankees’ minor league system, Jones has struggled with a high strikeout rate and low batting average, but with his stats this season, it’s looking like Jones has worked on this issue. Since his swing and frame are a lot like Judge’s, he deals with being late on pitches, resulting in a high strikeout rate. Since it did take Judge some time to get used to this at both the minor and major league levels, Jones will likely have to work on lowering the strikeout rate before the Yankees consider calling him up. Last night, in his first Triple-A start, Jones hit a home run in his first at-bat, solidifying his presence at the new level.
While most scouts currently predict that Jones will make his major league debut at some point this season, he joins a long list of outfielders, both on the current roster and on the Scranton RailRiders roster. While Jasson Domínguez hasn’t produced as much as the team would have liked this season, it’s hard to imagine a scenario where the Yankees would give up on him this early. After struggling early in the season, Cody Bellinger has stepped up immensely and provided consistency, which is something the Yankees lack in 2025. In addition, it’s hard to bench Trent Grisham with what he’s provided so far this season. With the designated hitter spot taken and an outfield full, there’s not really any place for Jones to go. While it’s not certain he won’t make his debut this season, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the team wait until 2026 to give an outfield spot to Jones.
