Latest news with #SpencerJones
Yahoo
13 hours ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
SEE IT: Yankees prospect Spencer Jones smacks home run in first Triple-A at-bat
Spencer Jones didn't waste any time proving that his recent promotion to the Triple-A level was warranted. In his first at-bat for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Friday night, the Yankees' top prospect showed off his pop, crushing a full-count fastball to dead center for a solo home run against the Red Sox's affiliate. The ball traveled 397 feet, with an exit velocity of 110 mph. Advertisement Jones, who's ranked the Yankees' second-best prospect by MLB Pipeline, officially made the move from Double-A Somerset on Friday afternoon. The behemoth 24-year-old thrived in Double-A, posting a .274/.389/.594 slash line with 16 homers and 32 RBI across 49 games. The red-hot start to his Triple-A stint doesn't come as much of a surprise. Jones entered Friday with a laudable .321 average and 1.039 OPS in June (21 games). Jones' first Triple-A dinger can be watched below.
New York Post
21 hours ago
- Sport
- New York Post
Yankees top prospect Spencer Jones getting closer to debut after Triple-A promotion
Spencer Jones is now just one step away from the majors. The Yankees' top prospect is being promoted to Triple-A after hitting 16 homers and posting a .984 OPS with Double-A Somerset, according to reports. The 2022 first-round pick is the team's No. 2 prospect, per Advertisement Spencer Jones during spring training. Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post While there have been questions about his contact ability, he slashed .274/.389/.594 in 49 games this season. He struck out 70 times in 208 plate appearances. The towering 6-foot-7 slugger mashed a walk-off homer for Somerset on Thursday night to follow up winning Eastern League Player of the Week honors last week for his outrageous stat lines of 10-for-21 (.476/.607/.952) with 8 RBI, 6 R, 4 XBH (1 2B, 3 HR), 7 BB and a 1.559 OPS over six games. Advertisement Spencer Jones is the team's No. 2 prospect. Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post This promotion now makes him eligible for a potential call-up should the Yankees need to make a move, although they already have have four outfielders for just three starting spots in Aaron Judge, Trent Grisham, Cody Bellinger and Jasson Dominguez. More to come on this developing story
Yahoo
a day ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Yankees' outfield prospect continues home run barrage in Double-A
Spencer Jones might be the most perplexing prospect in the Yankees' organization, as his high strikeout rates raise massive alarm bells, but unlike last year, he's generating tons of home run power. The contact rates are as bad as last year, but Jones is hitting the ball in the air and making better swing decisions, resulting in a monstrous .974 OPS in an Eastern League that's been more pitcher-friendly in 2025. Advertisement Hitters in the Eastern League have a .365 SLG% and .679 OPS on average, and yet Jones is dominating in terms of results. Launching his 14th home run of the season, he's just three away from matching his 2024 total despite playing in just 44 games so far. It raises some interesting questions about whether Jones can make it in the big leagues or not, and whether his abnormal combination of raw tools can result in a productive everyday regular. Why Spencer Jones' HR Barrage Could Catch the Yankees' Attention Credit: Sam Navarro-USA TODAY Sports It can feel impossible to predict who will or won't have success at the next level, and that's why anomalies exist in this league. Advertisement Oneil Cruz and Elly De La Cruz have displayed that highly questionable hit tools can be overlooked for elite-level raw power and athleticism, but Jones pushes that to the brink with his strikeout rates. He has a 34.2% K%, and while the K% in the Eastern League (24.7%) is higher than in the Major Leagues (22.0%), you have to imagine those contact numbers will only get worse as he moves up the professional ladder. I tried to find hitters with the outlier traits that Jones has, a K% above 34% and a ISO above .300, and the only two hitters to pop up (min. 200 PA) at the Double-A level since 2021 are Moises Gomez and Drew Lugbauer. Neither player reached the Major Leagues, but it should be noted that neither played centerfield primarily, a position that the Yankees' 2022 first-round pick handles extremely well. Advertisement READ MORE: Yankees' infielder is quietly dominating — and no one's noticing Hudson Valley Renegades outfielder Spencer Jones during media day on April 5, 2023. Renegades Media Day I tried to expend this search, looking for hitters with at least 130 plate appearances, and the only other hitter who popped up besides Spencer Jones was Trey Cabbage. Cabbage reached the Major Leagues but his time there was brief, and he's currently playing in the NPB as he hit .209 with a 58 wRC+ in 67 games. He struck out in 40.8% of his plate appearances, and it's safe to say that if Jones does that in the Major Leagues his time would also be pretty brief. History would tell us that hitters of Jones' mold do not end up making it or sticking at baseball's highest level, but none of these examples have had teams consider their defensive and baserunning abilities. Advertisement While all three of the players I mentioned projected to be below-average in both regards, you can reasonably expect Spencer Jones to be a plus (or double plus) in those categories. Very quietly, Spencer Jones is stealing at a pace that would result in 34 stolen bases at an 83.3% success clip over 150 games. He does an excellent job getting downhill and using his long legs to make massive strides, and the Yankees have allowed him to be an aggressive runner. The arm is unreal, the range is good because of his aforementioned speed, and his tall frame allows him to bring down liners and flyballs that would sail over the heads of most outfielders. Advertisement We could be looking at a good defender at a premium position who also steals 20-30 bases a season efficiently. Credit: Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images Add on the fact that he has 14 home runs in just 184 plate appearances in one of the most run-depressed leagues in the Minor League circuit, and you have someone who could provide MLB value. I find it utterly fascinating that Steamer projects him for a 36.9% strikeout rate as well; if he ran that strikeout rate he likely wouldn't be a good hitter, but could he be league average with the power and patience he has? Sure, pitchers wouldn't be scared to death of going after him in the zone, but the home run power has to create some level of deterrence. Advertisement This is one of the weirdest prospects I've evaluated not just in the Yankees' organization, but really in all of baseball. His combination of whiffs and game power alone are unique, and none of his loose comparisons have the speed or defense he has. With Jones cutting his groundball rate by 12.3% from last season, he's hitting the ball in the air and on a line at a much higher rate than last season, and he has so much power that it almost always results in damage. There's no one like him in professional baseball, and that can allow him to challenge the expectations and projections we'd normally have for someone with his profile. Advertisement Maybe he ends up flaming out the way Moises Gomez, Trey Cabbage, and Drew Lugbauer did after leaving the Double-A level, or maybe his athletic tools allow him to contribute without the bat, giving him time to acclimate and hit bombs in the Bronx. Related Headlines
New York Times
a day ago
- Sport
- New York Times
Yankees prospect notes: Spencer Jones' improvement, George Lombard Jr.'s leadership, Brett Gardner comp
BRIDGEWATER, N.J. — Raul Domínguez was relaxed. The third-year manager of the Double-A Somerset Patriots was in workout clothes, sitting in the dugout. He had given his players a late report time — a savvy call, considering the first-pitch temperature that day ended up being 94 degrees at TD Bank Ballpark. It was mostly quiet, and he took time to dive into the recent performances of several of the New York Yankees prospects playing for him. Advertisement For the last two weeks, center fielder Spencer Jones has shown everything the Yankees dreamed about when they picked him in the first round out of Vanderbilt in 2022. Entering Thursday, he was hitting .432 with six home runs, 12 RBIs and a 1.406 OPS over his previous 12 games. He had struck out 13 times in 44 at-bats (29.5 percent) — a much better clip than the 44.4 percent strikeout rate he put up in 36 games to start the season. Domínguez said the Yankees' internal numbers showed he had been making better swing decisions as of late. 'Yeah, we can see that improve,' the manager said. 'The goal is just to see Spencer Jones stay consistent.' This season, Jones has been using a much wider stance with his hands held further away from his body than before. He missed about three weeks in May with an intercostal injury. Domínguez said he thinks Jones is comfortable with his new swing and 'with the results he's getting, he's got to keep going with it.' Overall, Jones went into Thursday hitting .271 with 16 homers, 31 RBIs and a .989 OPS in 48 games at Double A. The Athletic's Keith Law ranked him as the Yankees' No. 4 prospect. Domínguez added that Jones appears to be playing better defense, too. Though Jones flashed good speed and a good first step last year, he's turning more difficult fly balls into outs. 'Numbers-wise, he's catching more balls in the gap,' the manager said. 'Those max-effort plays. He's converting those balls. Last year, he had the really good first step, the really good acceleration in the outfield. It was sometimes frustrating because he didn't convert those balls. Finally, this year, he's doing the same thing with the first step and the acceleration, but the difference is that he's covering those plays.' George Lombard Jr. had a rough start after his promotion to Double A, but the 20-year-old shortstop has been better as of late. Entering Thursday, Lombard had hit .265 with a .890 OPS over his prior nine games, and he had raised his overall wRC+ to 110 at the level. Advertisement Domínguez said he's seen a leader in Lombard, Law's No. 1 Yankees prospect and No. 98 in the game entering this season. The manager said he's particularly noticed how Lombard makes a point to relay information about the opposing pitcher to his teammates after each of his at-bats. 'Sometimes we have presentations to the players about being a leader and being a good teammate, and what it looks like when you go to the big leagues and everything,' Domínguez said. 'But that's a gift. Not everybody can be George Lombard.' After second baseman Roc Riggio hit a pair of homers versus Binghamton on June 8, Domínguez turned to Dan Fiorito, a Yankees roving defense coach. 'When he hits a homer,' Domínguez told Fiorito, 'it reminds me of Brett Gardner. Just a swing like that. Little guy. Strong. 'No, I'm going to crush the ball.' He's aggressive. He's competitive.' Of course, Riggio has a long way to go before getting Gardner comparisons in the major leagues, but it was high praise from his manager. He'd earned it, having hit .257 with 14 homers and 33 RBIs among rookie ball, High A and Double A this season entering Thursday. The 2023 fourth-round pick had a .880 OPS in 18 games at Somerset. Domínguez added that Riggio is ultracompetitive, as Gardner was, and he's continuing to develop defensively. Catcher Rafael Flores (No. 13 Yankees prospect) has been making strides defensively and still calls ex-Yankee Jose Trevino one of his mentors. 'I know he has a really good relationship with Trevino,' Domínguez said. 'He talks to Trevino a lot about everything. He'll be like, 'I talked to Trevino about this and this and this.' Seems like he's learning a lot from the big-league guys. He doesn't talk too much, but just to have him behind home plate almost every day; he's a really good leader when he's catching.' Advertisement The Yankees traded Trevino to the Cincinnati Reds in the offseason for reliever Fernando Cruz. The Yankees signed Flores as an undrafted free agent out of Rio Hondo College (Calif.) in 2022. Entering Thursday, he was hitting .282 with 12 homers, 45 RBIs and an .827 OPS in 70 games at Double A. He also had 19 doubles. Third baseman Dylan Jasso, another undrafted Yankees hitter, stood out to Domínguez. The 22-year-old has 10 homers and an .835 OPS in 63 games at Double A. 'When he got here,' the manager said, 'he started playing every day, and people started saying, 'Hey, he can hit.' And I was like, 'OK, I want to see it.' Then when he started hitting, (he was) hitting homers opposite field, pull side and center field. It was like, wow. He's only 22 years old, and he's playing a lot of third base, learning how to play. He's really impressive (with) the ability he has to hit and to put the ball in play. I didn't know he was that good of a hitter.' (Top photo of Spencer Jones: Nathan Ray Seebeck / Imagn Images)
Associated Press
04-06-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
Complimentary Webinar: Know Your SFI Standards – Chain of Custody and Fiber Sourcing
Complimentary Webinar Know Your SFI Standards – Chain of Custody and Fiber Sourcing Thursday, June 12 | 12:00PM ET, 9:00AM PT What are the key differences and similarities between the Sustainable Forestry Initiative's (SFI's) Chain of Custody and Fiber Sourcing standards, and what do companies need to know, to decide what certification they need to meet their sustainability goals? Join us for an in-depth conversation between Spencer Jones from SCS Global Services and SFI's Annie Perkins and Zac Wagman about these standards. Key points to be discussed: The 45-minute panel discussion will be followed by a 15-minute Q&A session. Speakers: Register Here For inquiries, contact: Madhumita Mohan Marketing Manager, Natural Resources, SCS Global Services [email protected] Visit 3BL Media to see more multimedia and stories from SCS Global Services
