The lefty Aaron Judge? Untouchable in trades? Why Spencer Jones has Yankees so excited
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Jorge Castillo, ESPN Staff Writer
TAMPA, Fla. — The potential the New York Yankees see in Spencer Jones, the towering top prospect who reminds many of a certain giant outfielder, was obvious in the first and last swings he took during his time in major league camp this spring.
The first, in the Yankees’ exhibition opener on Feb. 24, produced a mammoth 470-foot home run. The last, two weeks later, was an inside-out cut on a pitch darting under his hands that the left-handed slugger deposited the other way, down the left-field line. He glided into second base for a double.
Massive raw power? Check. Elite speed? Check. Bat-to-ball skills? Improving.
“He’s such a presence and such a dynamic athlete,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said after Jones slashed that double. “And in a lot of ways he’s just kind of scratching the surface on his baseball career.”
That feeling permeates the organization, from the clubhouse to the owner’s suite. The 6-foot-6 Jones is an unusual blend of power, size and speed the team envisions clubbing home runs over the short porch at Yankee Stadium and stealing bases deep into October. The Yankees firmly believe the 22-year-old is a future star. It’s why he is still in the organization.
The Yankees could have made Jones the centerpiece in a major trade in recent months — even just this week — to improve a roster in win-now mode for the 2024 season. But team brass is so convinced of Jones’ talents that he has been deemed virtually untouchable.
In December, the Yankees acquired Juan Soto from the San Diego Padres without including Jones in the package. Last month, the Milwaukee Brewers sent former Cy Young Award winner Corbin Burnes to division rival Baltimore Orioles after the Yankees reportedly refused to include Jones in a deal.
This week, despite news that reigning American League Cy Young winner Gerrit Cole would miss at least the start of the season with an elbow injury, the Yankees refused to part with Jones in a trade for Dylan Cease. The Chicago White Sox instead shipped Cease to the Padres on Wednesday.
Starting pitching remains the Yankees’ biggest concern heading into Opening Day. Moving Jones, who isn’t expected to contribute to the big league team this season, could have helped address it. The Yankees wouldn’t budge.
“It’s cool to be held in that sense, or that regard,” Jones said. “Like my buddies from back home that are big baseball fans, they’ll send me all the stuff because I’m not seeing it.”
The Yankees re-assigned Jones to minor league camp earlier this month, and he is expected to begin the season in Double-A. He’s on the Yankees’ Spring Breakout roster for an all-prospects showcase on Saturday against the Toronto Blue Jays.
But the Yankees project him in the Bronx by 2025, stationed in center field for years to come. That would require him living up to the hype.
Jones batted .267 with 16 home runs and 43 steals in 117 games — including 101 starts in center field — between High-A and Double-A in his first full professional season. He struck out 155 times, and the 16 home runs were a bit underwhelming for someone with his power. But the performance still raised expectations.
ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel recently listed Jones as baseball’s 56th-best prospect. Last month, Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner named Jones as one of three prospects, along with pitchers Will Warren and Chase Hampton, he is “hesitant to give up.”
“Plus run and power on a tremendous frame,” one rival scout said. “But, with that big frame and strength, comes some overall stiffness. The swing is naturally on the longer side, but he does have enough bat speed to give him a chance.”
The similarities between Jones and Aaron Judge are hard to ignore. There’s the abnormal height for baseball players — Judge is 6-7, just an inch taller than Jones. Both, despite their size, can comfortably patrol center field. Both have huge power. Both were Yankees first-round picks out of college.
There are differences. For one, Jones both throws and hits left-handed. Secondly, he boasts elite speed. Judge noted that Jones was up there with shortstop Anthony Volpe as the fastest Yankees in camp.
Of course, Judge has grown into one of baseball’s most productive power hitters in recent history, while Jones is still trying to turn his tools into consistent production.
“I know this sounds hyperbolic, but Jones has louder tools than Judge,” another rival scout said. “Jones is just a freak of nature.”
Then there’s the fact that Jones, unlike Judge, is seen by the Yankees as an everyday center fielder from Day 1 as a major leaguer. That alone would be a feat, considering the thin history of exceptionally tall guys at that position.
Only 11 players 6-6 or taller have ever played the position in the major leagues. Judge, the Yankees’ center fielder this season, just so happens to be one of them.
“I think it’s unfair for him to be compared to anybody because he’s so unique,” Judge said. “He’s such a different hitter than me. I think he’s a different athlete than me. Like he’s exceptional, man. I wish I had that speed.”
Jones focused on hitting as a star at La Costa Canyon High School outside San Diego. Then, near the end of his high school career, he became a two-way player. In six months, he said, his fastball jumped from 86 to 94 mph. A 6-6 high school southpaw throwing 94 mph? Scouts salivated.
“We’d have scout meetings my senior year of high school and they would all talk to me as if I was a pitcher,” Jones said. “And I honestly didn’t like that that much. Because I was like pitching was one thing I did, but I really liked to hit.”
Spencer’s ascent hit a snag when he fractured his elbow throwing a curveball during a game in his senior year. Major league clubs, as a result, weren’t willing to meet his bonus price. He sank all the way to the 31st round in the 2019 MLB draft, where he was selected by the Los Angeles Angels. Instead, he went to Vanderbilt.
He was given three gloves when he arrived in Nashville — one for pitching and one for the outfield, plus a first baseman’s mitt. He began as a first baseman in 2020, but he couldn’t make basic throws. He had the yips.
“I just never rehabbed [my arm] right,” Jones said. “It was a simple rehab, there was just some miscommunication.”
COVID shortened the 2020 season, which allowed Jones to properly rehab the arm. He resumed pitching that summer but tore his ulnar collateral ligament and underwent Tommy John surgery. That was it for him on the mound.
“I was always more of a thrower than I was a pitcher,” Jones said. “But it was kind of an identity crisis. I didn’t know what I was going to be better at. After the UCL, it was like, ‘All right, let’s put all our eggs in the hitting basket. We’re not going to pitch anymore.'”
After DHing his sophomore season, he asked to move to the outfield as a junior to, as he put it, “lengthen out my arm again.” Once they saw him there, he stayed — and took off.
Jones hit .370 with 12 home runs, 14 steals and a 1.103 OPS in 61 games as Vanderbilt’s everyday right fielder. It was his first full healthy season focused solely on hitting since his junior year of high school. The breakout prompted the Yankees to select him with the 25th pick in the 2022 MLB draft and pay him a $2,880,800 bonus.
Less than two years later, Jones was mashing baseballs and turning heads in big league camp.
“Impressive was the first word that comes to mind,” Yankees hitting coach James Rowson said.
It took one swing for Jones to show why the hoopla surrounding him exists. Baseballs smashed 470 feet are rare. Center fielders that tall — and fast — are rarer. The Yankees are betting this is just the beginning.
“I feel I’m still developing as a hitter,” Jones said. “There’s still a million things I can learn. I’m not set in my ways. I’m only 22 years old.”
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Daniel Oyefusi
FRISCO, Texas — Former Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders said Saturday he is unsure if he will throw at the NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis next month.
Sanders is attending the East-West Shrine Bowl but will not participate in practice or in the game Thursday. He was at the West team’s first practice at the University of North Texas on Saturday morning but stood on the field, watching the other prospects.
While Sanders won’t conduct any on-field work at the Shrine Bowl, he reiterated his belief that he’s worthy of being the top pick in the 2025 NFL draft. He has been training in the Dallas area with former Miami‘s Cam Ward, another top quarterback prospect in this year’s draft.
“We changed the program at Jackson [State University],” Sanders said. “We went to Colorado, changed the program. And we did everything people didn’t think we were able to do. So, that’s why I know I’m the most guaranteed risk you can take.”
Sanders met with multiple teams Friday, including the Tennessee Titans, Cleveland Browns and New York Giants, who hold the first three picks in the draft, respectively. The Titans met with Sanders for 45 minutes.
“I like that I’m able to get in the forefront of everything and they’re able to understand me and ask me whatever questions they want,” Sanders said. “I’m not ducking. I ain’t hiding. I’m right here, live in the flesh and able to answer whatever questions are out there.”
While Sanders is confident in his worthiness as the first overall pick, he said he would be “thankful for whatever situation and whoever drafts me. I know I’ll be able to change their program.”
Asked what he will bring to a team, Sanders smiled and said, “A lot of wins.”
Shedeur’s older brother Shilo, a safety, is also in Texas for the game. Colorado is also represented by wide receivers Will Sheppard, LaJohntay Wester, Jimmy Horn Jr. and cornerback Cam’Ron Silmon-Craig.
ESPN’s Turron Davenport contributed to this report.
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Jorge Castillo
NEW YORK — The New York Mets held their first winter event for fans in five years at Citi Field on Saturday, and there was one notable absence. Pete Alonso wasn’t in attendance because, for the first time since the 2016 draft, he isn’t a member of the Mets’ organization.
The homegrown star first baseman remains a free agent and, though a reunion remains possible, he might have played his last game as a Met.
Owner Steve Cohen bluntly said as much Saturday after taking the stage for a fireside chat with fans to chants of “We want Pete!”
“Personally, this has been an exhausting conversation and negotiation,” Cohen explained. “I mean, [Juan Soto’s negotiation] was tough. This is worse. A lot of it is, we’ve made a significant offer. I don’t like the structures that are being presented back to us. I think it’s highly asymmetric against us and I feel strongly about it.”
Alonso, along with third baseman Alex Bregman, is one of the two best position players left on the free agent market. The first baseman, who is represented by Scott Boras, originally sought a long-term deal, but he is open to returning to the Mets on a three-year contract and the Mets have been open to such a deal, according to a source. The obstacle has been money.
“I will never say no,” Cohen said. “There’s always the possibility. But the reality is we’re moving forward and we continue to bring in players. As we continue to bring in players, the reality is it becomes harder to fit Pete into what is a very expensive group of players that we already have and that’s where we are.
“I’m being brutally honest. I don’t like the negotiations. I don’t like what’s being presented to us. Maybe that changes. I’ll always stay flexible. But if it stays this way, I think we’re going to have to get used to the fact that we may have to go forward with the existing players that we have.”
The Mets recently re-signed outfielder/designated hitter Jesse Winker to a one-year, $7.5 million contract and added left-handed reliever A.J. Minter on a two-year, $22 million deal. They’ve also signed Soto (15 years, $765 million), Sean Manaea (three years, $75 million), Clay Holmes (three years, $38 million), and Frankie Montas (two years, $34 million), among other moves, this winter.
Preparing for life without Alonso, the Mets recently instructed third basemen Mark Vientos and Brett Baty to work out at first base. Vientos and Baty both confirmed the organization’s request Saturday.
“We all love Pete, and we’ve said that many times,” Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns said. “And I think, as we’ve gone through this process, we’ve continued to express that. We also understand that this is a business and Pete, as a free agent, deserves the right and has the right and earned the privilege, really, to see what’s out there. We also feel really good about the young players who are coming through our system who have the ability to play at the major-league level.”
Vientos, 25, enjoyed a breakout season as one of the best hitters in the National League after solidifying himself as the Mets’ every-day third baseman in May and helping fuel the team’s run to the NL Championship Series. Baty, a former top prospect, was the club’s opening day third baseman last season. He struggled after a hot start before he was demoted to Triple-A and didn’t return to the majors.
Mets manager Carlos Mendoza also named veterans Jared Young and Joey Meneses, both of whom signed this winter, as other options at first base if Alonso doesn’t return.
“Pete’s been here since I’ve been here,” said Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor, who has starred for the franchise since 2021. “He was here before me. So, yeah, it would be different if he goes somewhere else. Yeah, it would be different. But I think he should take his time. I think he should make the best decision for himself and not feel that he’s rushed.”
Alonso, 30, became a fan favorite while becoming a franchise cornerstone over his six seasons in Queens. He’s hit 226 home runs since making his major-league debut — the second-highest total in baseball behind only Aaron Judge. His 53 home runs in 2019 set a rookie record. He’s been a reliable everyday presence; he’s never missed more than nine games in a season and played in all 178 games, postseason included, in 2024. He’s made four All-Star teams and won the Home Run Derby twice.
But he rates as a poor defender and baserunner whose offensive production has declined over the last three seasons, creating a free-agent market that hasn’t been as fruitful as projected when he declined a seven-year, $158 million contract extension in 2023.
“Listen, he’s a special player,” Hall of Famer and former Mets catcher Mike Piazza said Saturday. “Guys that can hit 40 home runs are not walking on the street. So when he’s really in his game, he’s a special player. I hope, from a personal standpoint, I hope they work something out.”
Outfielder Brandon Nimmo, the longest-tenured player on the roster after debuting in 2016, signed an eight-year, $162 million contract to remain with the Mets two offseasons ago. Like Alonso, Boras is his agent. Unlike Alonso, he reached a resolution in December, not with spring training around the corner.
“I would love to see Pete back with us, but I also understand that I don’t make those decisions,” Nimmo said. “And that’s between Pete and our front office and David [Stearns] and Steve [Cohen]. And from what I understand, there’s been a lot of talks between them. I’m still hopeful that we’ll sign him.”
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