A little over one year ago, Yankees prospect Spencer Jones put the finishing touches on an impressive Spring Training; in addition to batting .467 and hitting one of the longest moonshots you’ll ever see, Jones accomplished the Gwyinnian feat of not swinging and missing…at all. Going into the season at AA, Yankees fans were excited to see how Jones would capitalize on such an otherworldly performance.
470 ft. Spencer Jones. 🤯 pic.twitter.com/dbhDSgvOff
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) February 24, 2024
Frankly, he didn’t.
While his final stats for 2024 don’t look that bad (he batted .259, with 17 HR, 78 RBI, and 25 SB), one of the most, well, striking features of his season was that he struck out a whopping 200 times, and had a 36.8 strikeout percentage in AA.
Yikes.
All off-season, Yankees, if not all of baseball’s “X” has been going off on him; “He’s washed,” “Look at his K rate!” “No one that age comes back from that in AA!” etc. But I’m here to tell you not to give up on Spencer Jones just yet. For starters, none of the reasons to like Jones have disappeared. He is still a giant of a man who is almost as tall as Aaron Judge, to whom he is often compared to as “the lefty Aaron Judge;” He still has monstrous power and runs far above average for a man his size. Additionally, he has retained the fielding prowess that makes the Yankees believe he can one day be a top-flight Center Fielder.
So why did he flounder in AA? Well, while I’m not sure that it can be confirmed for certain, there was some news that there were changes to Jones’ swing between Spring Training and the regular season, a change he was not able to recover from – though his second half was better than his first. Which brings me to why I’m hopeful for a 2025 rebound, and it too involves a swing change.
If there is one thing that can be said about all of Aaron Judge’s success, it’s that the Big Man’s work with his private hitting coach seems to work for him. Perhaps said coach has a special ability to instruct the combination of tall and talented? Anyway, Jones, it’s been reported, has started working with him and has changed his swing, which you can see below:
Spencer Jones taking some LOUD swings this winter🔥
(H/T justinwilsonbaseball on IG) pic.twitter.com/XwpnXsav9O
— Fireside Yankees (@FiresideYankees) January 21, 2025
Do you notice anything in particular? I do. What I see in this video of Jones is that his load-up and swing look an awful lot like the Yankee Captain that we all know and love. Don’t believe me? Take a look for yourself:
Aaron Judge and Spencer Jones’ swings next to each other practically look IDENTICAL🤯
The Yankees might have the left-handed Judge in their system…#Yankees pic.twitter.com/Ef8Aep0qER
— Fireside Yankees (@FiresideYankees) January 22, 2025
If Jones can even become half of what Aaron Judge is, that would be a success, and I have reason to believe that the changes Jones is making before coming to camp, will help him become who he is meant to be: a Major League success story.
