Since the moment he was drafted, New York Yankee outfielder Spencer Jones has been one of baseball’s most polarizing prospects. With a 6-foot-7 frame and tremendous raw power, he’s received countless comparisons to his superstar teammate, Aaron Judge. In the same breadth, his high strikeout rate and positional uncertainty have led fans to tab him as the next Joey Gallo.
Somewhere between those two extremes lies Jones’ true value. In his two short major league stints this season, the 2022 first-round pick has validated his strikeout concerns. Through 18 games, Jones has struck out 39.6% of the time, a number similar to his minor league mark. Outside of that, however, Jones has found immediate success in major league baseball, especially in his second big league stint.
Power
Since returning to the Yankees in early June, Jones has slugged .636 in nine games. In that span, he’s gone deep twice, with both long balls being far from ordinary.
His first home run, which came against the Cleveland Guardians, traveled 443 feet into center field. It was the second-longest first home run in the Statcast era in team history, with Aaron Judge’s 457-foot home run in 2016 taking the crown. His second home run, which came against the Chicago White Sox, traveled into Yankee Stadium’s second deck in right field.
All of Jones’ underlying metrics support this power. If he were eligible, his 97.5 mph average exit velocity would rank first in baseball, as would his 75% hard hit rate. This comes as little surprise, as Jones’ 77.9 mph average bat speed would rank as the fifth best in all of major league baseball.
Plate Discipline
Jones has certainly struck out as much as expected, with the slugger accumulating 21 strikeouts in 46 big league at-bats. However, his high walk rate of 13.9 percent has offset that mark. In fact, Jones’ walk rate would place him 21st in all of baseball in that statistic.
More impressive than his high walk rate, though, is Jones’ patience in key situations. For example, against the White Sox on Tuesday, Jones drew a bases-loaded, six-pitch walk to give the Yankees a 4–1 lead.
Defense
With Judge and Jasson Dominguez missing significant time in the outfield, Jones has stepped in admirably. In 11 games, Jones has highlighted his defensive versatility by playing seven in center field and four in right field. He’s also made no errors in that span, while posting a neutral fielding run value.
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