Spencer Jones is finally here: Can he force Yankees to keep him? | Klapisch

Don’t think teammates weren’t paying attention in spring training. And you better believe the Yankees noticed Jones’ recent hot streak at Triple-A featured six home runs in the last eight games.

“That’s a large man who can hit the ball very far,” Yankees outfielder Cody Bellinger said. “But, no, honestly, a freak athlete too. I didn’t know … the speed. Very athletic, moves well. Just a good baseball player.”

The hype around Jones is building. But there are two asterisks that can’t be ignored.

The first is his strikeout rate, which has been high throughout his minor-league career. Jones has whiffed in 37% of his at-bats since 2021. Despite his 11 home runs and .958 OPS this year, Jones is still striking out frequently: 46 strikeouts in 120 at-bats (38%).

That’s enough to concern some scouts who believe Jones will find it tougher to make contact in the majors. The question is whether the Yankees consider Jones’ strikeouts an acceptable trade-off for the power he might bring. That’s the same concern the Yankees had about Judge early in his career, too.

The second asterisk addresses that very point. Jones will be 25 next week, which means he’s no longer a young prospect. He would’ve been in his second or third major-league season with most other franchises. Yet, the Yankees have kept him waiting.

Were the Yankees not sufficiently sold on Jones to justify extending Trent Grisham a $22-million qualifying offer? He was ostensibly lured back to the Bronx as an insurance policy in case Bellinger signed elsewhere as a free agent. But the Yankees could’ve just as easily let both Grisham and Bellinger walk and handed the keys to Jones and Dominguez.

Many on social media were clamoring for just that — turning the Yankees into a younger, more athletic version of their 2025 selves. But putting two kids in the outfield with Judge would’ve represented a quasi-rebuild. The team’s hierarchy chose not to gamble with another season in the Captain’s prime. That goes for Gerrit Cole’s peak years, too.

The Yankees are instead in total go-for-it mode. To general manager Brian Cashman’s credit, running it back has so far been hugely successful. With a 26-12 record, the Yankees are by far the American League’s best team. They’re about to get even better with Carlos Rodon joining the rotation this weekend in Milwaukee.

Although it’s still early, I wonder if opposing managers are slowly resigning themselves to the probability of the Yankees winning 100-plus games with no competition. Cardinals manager Whitey Herzog came to that conclusion about the Mets in June 1986.

“No one’s catching them this year,” Herzog said, long before the advent of the wild card. The industry has since been revolutionized. Mediocre clubs still have a shot in October. But the summer months could turn into nothing but calisthenics for the Yankees.

Cole’s return will be a primary storyline. But so will the start of Jones’ major league career. He has a chance to become New York’s next shiny toy, like Volpe once was.

Dominguez, on the other hand, was in the middle of crashing into Yankee Stadium’s left field wall on Thursday.

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BOB KLAPISCH

After crashing into Yankee Stadium’s left-field wall, Dominguez was monitored for a concussion and diagnosed with a low-grade AC strain in his left shoulder. Dominguez won’t be back before June. Jones might feel sorry for Dominguez, but baseball is a cold business. Jones has finally escaped the box-out.

He’s now staring at that wide-open space called the rest of his career.

It just might be a beautiful thing.

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