Will Yankees trade Spencer Jones? Why slugging prospect's rise is a deadline dilemma

ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- While commercialized deadline rumors swirl successful the Bronx, the aboriginal of the New York Yankees -- oregon astatine slightest their adjacent week -- is playing retired 350 miles northwest of Yankee Stadium.

Spencer Jones, the hottest hitter successful the insignificant leagues, is honing his trade for the Triple-A Scranton Wilkes-Barre RailRiders arsenic they sojourn the Rochester Red Wings astatine the concern city's downtown ballpark. Meanwhile, the large league nine is backmost location aft dropping a three-game acceptable to the first-place Toronto Blue Jays 3 hours crossed the border.

With the unit mounting connected baseball's marquee franchise, Jones (and the remainder of the shot world) wonders wherever he'll beryllium connected Aug. 1.

Most years successful the Bronx, the sound to telephone up Jones for his large league debut would person reached a deafening decibel level good earlier helium clubbed 3 location runs successful 5 innings successful Thursday's matinee. The 6-foot-7 toolsy halfway fielder is batting .400 with 13 location runs and a 1.403 OPS successful 19 games since his promotion to the RailRiders connected June 27. The operation of Yankee Stadium's abbreviated structure and Jones' monster powerfulness from the near broadside is the worldly of Bleacher Creature dreams.

"I've ne'er seen thing similar it before," RailRiders manager Shelley Duncan told ESPN earlier his team's 7-1 nonaccomplishment to the Red Wings connected Tuesday snapped an 11-game winning streak. "I've ne'er seen a subordinate this talented earlier successful my life."

But Jones' caller outburst hasn't inspired the emblematic pleas for promotion. First, due to the fact that helium isn't a acceptable successful the Yankees' clunky roster construction, which already has excessively galore outfielders worthy of playing each day. Second, his astir glaring flaw -- a propensity to whiff astatine an alarming complaint -- has tempered expectations. Instead, his breakout, coupled with the large league team's wide needs elsewhere, has rendered Jones a cardinal taxable of commercialized speculation arsenic July 31 approaches and created a deadline dilemma for the Yankees.

In short, has the 24-year-old Jones' stellar play made him excessively invaluable to trade?

"It's a batch of amusive this clip of year, conscionable for shot fans successful general, right?" Jones told ESPN. "I person friends each implicit the state that are wanting maine to spell and play for their team. But my heart's present with this organization. I've been having a batch of amusive being a Yankee truthful acold successful my career. And you instrumentality everything with a atom of salt. It's portion of it, portion of the play and I'm excited to spot however things spell moving forward."

Yankees wide manager Brian Cashman did not mince words earlier this period erstwhile helium outlined his goals for the deadline. He wants to get starting pitching to bolster a rotation that mislaid Gerrit Cole and Clarke Schmidt for the season. He wants to upgrade a bullpen that lacks sturdy depth. And helium wants an infielder, preferably idiosyncratic to regenerate Oswald Peraza and his 24 wRC+ astatine 3rd base.

"We're going to town," Cashman said.

Until precocious past month, going to municipality seemingly meant making Jones -- and each different subordinate successful the Yankees' workplace strategy not named George Lombard Jr. -- disposable successful trades.

Rival executives judge Lombard, a 20-year-old shortstop successful Double-A and the lone Yankee connected ESPN MLB insider Kiley McDaniel's astir caller apical 50 prospects list, is fundamentally untouchable successful talks. Otherwise, it was unfastened play astatine the close price.

The Yankees person respective prospects different teams covet, predominantly pitchers. Right-handed starters Elmer Rodriguez-Cruz, Bryce Cunningham, Carlos Lagrange, Ben Hess and Cam Schlittler are each highly regarded. Triple-A catchers Jesus Rodriguez and Rafael Flores, who homered successful his 3rd crippled astatine the level connected Tuesday, are among the others they could determination to plug holes.

Of that group, lone the 24-year-old Schlittler has reached the majors. A erstwhile seventh-round pick, Schlittler has thrown the 10 fastest pitches by a Yankee this season, touching 100 mph portion posting a 4.35 ERA successful his archetypal 2 starts. Cashman indispensable determine if he's portion of the team's contiguous aboriginal oregon a commercialized campaigner to amended the Yankees' 2025 World Series chances.

Cashman indispensable besides determine if Jones' caller play is capable to instrumentality him disconnected the array successful commercialized talks oregon has simply made it the cleanable infinitesimal to woody him.

"I could lone ideate that there's radical that are reasoning that," Duncan said. "But if you privation to look astatine it similar a tear, if you privation to accidental this is simply a teardrop that he's on, you mightiness deliberation it's a large clip to commercialized him. I deliberation the idiosyncratic we're seeing close present is who helium is."

If the Yankees support Jones, they could commercialized from their surplus of left-handed-hitting presumption players already successful the majors, possibly creating a spot for Jones to capable this play earlier stepping into an mundane relation successful 2026.

"My instinct is, no, they won't [trade him]," an American League scout said. "They won't request to."

There are plentifulness of reasons to support him. Jones boasts velocity you wouldn't expect from idiosyncratic his size. He's a bully capable defender who could stay successful halfway tract astatine the adjacent level. He possesses an innate quality to deed baseballs hard successful the aerial to each fields that, on with his size, has drawn comparisons to Aaron Judge. He's batting .308 with a 1.079 OPS successful 67 games betwixt Double-A and Triple-A this season. His 26 location runs are tied for tops crossed the minors. And helium would get successful New York with six afloat seasons of squad control.

But with that top-tier popular comes a glaring shortcoming that concerns endowment evaluators: An unsettling inclination to whiff connected pitches since earlier the Yankees selected him successful the archetypal circular retired of Vanderbilt successful 2022.

Jones compiled a 33.7% strikeout complaint successful Double-A past season. This year, it's decreased somewhat to 31.7% betwixt Double-A and Triple-A. For context, that complaint would beryllium tied for 4th worst among qualified large -league hitters with Colorado Rockies 3rd baseman Ryan McMahon, a imaginable Yankees commercialized target.

Jones' 37.4% whiff rate successful 83 Triple-A sheet appearances would fertile second-highest successful the majors among qualified hitters betwixt the Rockies' Michael Toglia, a 6-5 archetypal baseman with a .197 batting mean and .624 OPS, and Judge, the 6-7 AL MVP frontrunner. His 74.8% interaction complaint connected pitches successful the onslaught portion would fertile second-lowest betwixt San Francisco Giants slugger Rafael Devers and Toglia.

The strikeout concerns person made Jones a polarizing imaginable successful the industry.

"He has tons of plaything and miss," a National League enforcement said. "When you person important interaction issues successful the insignificant leagues, that's precise scary. To me, he's not a premium, premium prospect. He's an absorbing subordinate with immoderate upside."

"He's a legit prospect," an American League enforcement argued. "But being 24 successful Double-A with a 33% strikeout complaint isn't great."

Said a National League endowment evaluator: "There's nary warrant erstwhile a feline swings and misses arsenic overmuch arsenic helium does. But the powerfulness is peculiar and the upside is obvious. So I deliberation he's a morganatic imaginable of interest, but that's not truly a departure from his imaginable standing."

Jones' illustration has drawn comparisons to the 6-5 Joey Gallo, erstwhile a premier antiaircraft outfielder with immense power, precocious strikeout numbers, and a .194 vocation batting mean who made 2 All-Star teams implicit 10 large league seasons.

Judge, a lofty examination based connected their evident size and powerfulness traits, compiled 373 strikeouts successful 1,510 sheet appearances successful the minors, amounting to a 24.7% rate, earlier making his large league debut successful 2016. He tallied 208 strikeouts successful his archetypal afloat play successful 2017, hasn't accumulated much than 175 successful a play since past and has a 27.8% vocation strikeout rate.

"Historically, data-wise, those numbers usually nonstop reddish flags retired and are not numbers that radical spot a batch of betterment connected oregon large improvements on," Duncan said. "But erstwhile you dive deeper and you commencement trying to fig retired wherefore the misses are wherever they are and possibly the approach, plaything thoughts helium had, you tin enactment unneurotic a puzzle and fig retired however to destruct immoderate of it. I deliberation that immoderate of the adjustments that we're seeing hap close present are promising."

Jones has implemented sizeable plaything changes since ending past play with Double-A Somerset. He's worked connected removing excess question to amended admit pitches and let his athleticism to flow. He's opened his stance since outpouring training, crouching debased and utilizing a precocious limb footwear to activate a much streamlined plaything that launches erstwhile his ft lands and resembles the choky rotation cardinal to Judge's mechanics.

Scranton hitting manager Mike Mergenthaler said helium believes Jones has made encouraging improvements successful the area, peculiarly successful combating pitches precocious successful the zone, but acknowledged a precocious swing-and-miss complaint volition astir apt stay successful Jones' profile. He pointed to Jones' elite mean bat velocity of adjacent to 80 mph -- Statcast considers a plaything 75 mph oregon supra to beryllium accelerated -- arsenic a diagnostic that volition inevitably nutrient whiffs.

"Simplicity and the bliss that comes with that," Jones said erstwhile asked what helium has learned this season. "I deliberation conscionable aligning the caput and assemblage successful a mode that allows you to really, genuinely beryllium yourself is thing that's opened my eyes this year."

A Southern California native, Jones has heard from friends and household everyplace arsenic the commercialized deadline approaches. People successful his beingness successful Los Angeles and San Diego and Arizona and Texas each privation him to play for their favourite teams. The societal media rumor mill has been intolerable to ignore, the sound large capable that Duncan said helium planned connected addressing his squad astir the deadline.

For now, Jones inactive dreams of sharing an outfield with Judge and calling Yankee Stadium home. Over the adjacent six days, the Yankees volition determine if the subtle advancements and large results are existent capable to support him connected a way there.

"We'll interest astir that erstwhile that happens," Jones said. "Right now, there's inactive clip to go, truthful we'll interest astir those things arsenic they happen. But I can't truly talk connected thing I can't power astatine all."