on the injured list<\/a> with a right flexor tendon strain. The Yankees hope Judge will be back to full strength and playing defense again within a month, but if he heals slowly or has a setback, Jones might get his first chance in the majors.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/USATSI_25483794-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Spencer Jones, in spring training, has hit .317\/.413\/.702 this season with 29 home runs. (Kim Klement Neitzel \/ USA Today Network via Imagn Images)<\/p>\n
The Yankees\u2019 player development department has had success in recent years graduating position players into big-league roles. This season, homegrown products Anthony Volpe, Austin Wells, Dom\u00ednguez and Ben Rice have played significant parts. The club hopes Lombard is the next up.<\/p>\n
For Jones, the challenge has always been the same. He was striking out too much in the minors to expect him to help in the majors.<\/p>\n
Despite the power and athleticism that remind fans of Judge, Jones struggled to make contact. Last year, he carried a terrible 36.7 percent strikeout rate. He logged a 33.7 percent strikeout rate at Double A this season. However, at Triple A, he seemed to make some corrections that helped him drop that figure to 25.5 percent.<\/p>\n
Jones said a significant change that helped him was flattening his swing path after it had gotten too loopy \u2014 in addition to myriad stance changes that have led to him standing open at the plate with his hands held high.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s going to be a natural arc to the swing,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve been focused on flattening the path to let those fly balls I hit to left field have a little more carry or the line drives to right get a little more backspin. It\u2019s a delicate balance.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yankees pitcher Cam Schlittler saw it all along in Jones.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was telling people,\u201d Schlittler said, \u201cWhen he gets up here (to Triple A), I think he\u2019s going to hit these guys better. They\u2019re more in the zone. More polished. I thought he was just going to absolutely dominate Triple A, which, obviously, he\u2019s done. \u2026 Very toolsy dude. Puts the work in. Great guy off the field. He\u2019s been very good down there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Triple-A manager Shelley Duncan said it\u2019s not just Jones\u2019 new swing that\u2019s helped him. It\u2019s that he\u2019s finally felt comfortable with one approach long enough to see it pay off.<\/p>\n
\u201cI see a guy who\u2019s got a solid feel,\u201d Duncan said. \u201cHe\u2019s going up there with a consistent setup. A consistent plan. He knows where his swing is right now. He knows what he wants to do. That gives up confidence at the plate just to see the ball and hit it and not worry too much about your swing. \u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cI just see a confident hitter. I don\u2019t see the guy who\u2019s gone through a bunch of swing changes, like you hear people talk about.\u201d<\/p>\n
What Duncan does see is a top talent finally settling into cruise control.<\/p>\n
\u201cHonestly,\u201d the manager said, \u201che\u2019s gone up there and it looks like he\u2019s himself. He\u2019s not somebody who\u2019s stepping outside of his body with no emotions or nerves or anything. It\u2019s a guy who\u2019s very comfortable being who he is. The results are really fun.\u201d<\/p>\n
Which is fitting. The words \u201cJust Crusin\u2019\u2009\u201d are stitched in bright red on Jones\u2019 outfield mitt. Pitcher Allan Winans said it was \u201ckind of like his mantra.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really a pleasure to see him put together the year he\u2019s having,\u201d Cashman said. \u201cIt is pretty exciting stuff. Looking forward to watching that journey continue.\u201d<\/p>\n
With Jones staying put, that journey \u2014 with years of twists and turns \u2014 may soon land him in the Bronx after all.<\/p>\n
(Top photo: Mike Janes \/ Four Seam Images via Associated Press)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Spencer Jones isn\u2019t going anywhere. The surging New York Yankees center-field prospect, who seemingly reinvigorated his stock with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":53091,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[363,369,99],"class_list":["post-53090","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-mlb","tag-new-york-yankees","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53090","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53090"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53090\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}