Yankees Top Prospect Begins Double-A Stint

The New York Yankees’ No. 1 prospect, outfielder Spencer Jones, continued his first week at Double-A Somerset on Tuesday.

The Patriots were at Portland to face the Sea Dogs in a week-long series. The Yankees promoted Jones from High Class-A Hudson Valley on Sunday and he made his debut that day in a game against the Hartford Yard Goats.

Like Sunday, Jones batted third for the Patriots and played center field against the Sea Dogs. Unfortunately, he was unable to do much at the plate, as he went 0-for-4 and struck out three times.

On Sunday in his debut Jones went 2-for-4 with a run scored. Both of Jones’ hits were singles.

In two Double-A games he is 2-for-8 at the plate for a .250 average.

Jones was called up after a great season at Hudson Valley, where he slashed .268/.337/.450/.787 in 100 games. He had 28 doubles, four triples, 13 home runs and 56 RBI. He struck out 133 times, he walked 42 times and he stole 35 bases.

He played just 25 games in the Yankees’ system in 2022 — three with the Yankees’ Florida Complex League rookie team and 22 with the Class-A Tampa Yankees. He was exceptional, as he slashed .344/.425/.538/.963 with six doubles, four home runs and 12 RBI. He struck out 20 times, walked 11 times and stole 12 bases.

The Yankees took Jones in the first round (No. 25 overall) in the 2022 MLB Draft out Vanderbilt. This was three years after Jones passed on signing with the Los Angeles Angels after they drafted him in the 31st round of the 2019 Draft. At the time, Jones was coming off surgery to repair a fracture in his pitching elbow. That led to Tommy John surgery in 2020.

In his final season at Vanderbilt, Jones slashed .370/.460/.644 and signed a $2.880 million signing bonus with the Yankees.

His promotion comes on the heels of two other promotions in the Yankees’ system. The Yankees called up Everson Pereira last week from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to begin his MLB career. The outfielder was the organization’s No. 3 prospect. Shortly after, the Yankees promoted outfielder Jasson Domínguez to Triple-A, putting their No. 2 prospect on the doorstep of joining the Yankees.