During the late innings of a game at Yankee Stadium in early August, a graphic titled “Down on the Farm” was displayed on the video board in center field. The feature, which appears during every Yankees home game, showcases the accomplishments of a player in the organization’s Minor League system.
Some stat lines stand out more than others, but it’s safe to say that the numbers next to a photo of Spencer Jones caught the attention of most people in the Stadium on that hot Saturday afternoon.
Following a June 27 promotion from Double-A, the 6-foot-7 outfielder and prized prospect showed he not only deserved to be at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, but that he was ready to dominate. In 18 July games with the RailRiders, Jones batted .419 with 11 home runs, pacing the International League in both categories during that time. His .477 on-base percentage, .946 slugging percentage and 1.423 OPS were also tops during his first full month at the Minors’ top level.
For the 24-year-old, who took home International League Player of the Month honors and also cracked the list of Baseball America’s top 100 prospects this season, the promotion came after he had figured out a mental approach that clearly works for him.
“I think it was just the simplicity of me being in a new place with new people and not trying too hard to be someone that I wasn’t,” Jones said from PNC Field in Moosic, Pa. “I think I was learning a lot about myself as a person during that window of time. I feel like I was growing so much off the field, and I was free and curious on the field. It was a great month, and it felt like the first time in my pro career where I was just free to play. That’s the kind of player I can be when I’m not trying to do too much.”
Jones’ road leading up to this season included challenges and successes. He suffered a fractured elbow while pitching during his senior year of high school in Southern California. Then, after enrolling at Vanderbilt University in 2019, his first two collegiate seasons were cut short, the first as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the second due to another arm injury that required Tommy John surgery.
“That was tough because I knew that it would cost me my sophomore season,” he said. “I think that feeling of lost time before it even happens was the hardest part of all. The road ahead felt daunting.”
But after deciding to give up pitching, Jones rebounded. He put together a strong performance in the Cape Cod Baseball League prior to his junior season, then batted .370 with 12 home runs in his final year at Vanderbilt. The Yankees selected him with the 25th overall pick that summer.
“From the time I was a little kid, playing in the Cape Cod League is what I had dreamed of doing,” he said. “My grandparents live there, and I just felt like it was a magical league that I wanted to be part of. When it finally happened, it took away all of the bad memories of the previous few years. I was healthy and playing center field every day. It reminded me that baseball could be competitive and also fun.”
Three years after being drafted, Jones’ steady climb up the organizational ladder -- which included invitations to the MLB All-Star Futures Game in 2023 and 2024 -- brought him to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. If ever there was a portent of things to come, his first at-bat with the RailRiders this June showed the baseball world what it could expect. With his team trailing the Worcester Red Sox, 2-0, in the first inning, Jones worked the count full and then launched a 397-foot home run over the center-field wall in the RailRiders’ home ballpark.
“I was talking to the guys when I first got to the ballpark that day, and I asked them where the ball flies out of,” Jones said. “They told me it was tough to get one out in center. So, when I got back in the dugout after that home run, I just said, ‘I thought it was hard to hit one out there!’ That was a lot of fun, and more than anything, it was very freeing.”
As the calendar turned from June to July, Shelley Duncan, the RailRiders’ manager since 2023, watched his new outfielder with equal parts surprise and admiration.
“You don’t see anyone do that well when they first get promoted,” Duncan said. “It was nice to see a guy who was that hot. He was the best hitter in the league as soon as he came up, and he was doing things that we’ve never seen before. But he also handled it as well as you possibly could. He hasn’t changed at all as a person. He comes to the ballpark every day and puts in the same amount of work. He has the same attitude; he’s driven, and his confidence hasn’t gotten too high. I think that’s all you can ask for.”
Jones’ value to the RailRiders extends beyond what he has been able to do at the plate. His combination of speed and aggressiveness on the basepaths led to him swiping 28 bases this season through mid-September, with 18 coming in a Scranton/Wilkes-Barre uniform.
“It’s a huge benefit in a lot of ways,” Duncan said. “Any time you have a player in the lineup that is a threat to steal a base, it puts added pressure on the pitcher and catcher. A lot of times, that benefits the hitter and makes everyone better. When you have a guy with Spencer’s propensity to get on base, it’s even better. If he gets to first base, you essentially allowed him to hit a double.”
A natural center fielder, Jones has also been terrific on defense in 2025, not making an error through his first 36 games at Triple-A. His ability to take away would-be hits from opposing batters caught Duncan’s attention more than the routine plays he has consistently made.
“His range is really good,” Duncan said. “I’m impressed with how easy it looks for him to get to the baseball. He’s a big guy, and he gets to the baseball really easily. He has those long strides, and it allows him to catch up to balls that he has no chance to get to.”
As Jones pulverized Triple-A pitching in July, rumors began to swirl about the possibility of the Carlsbad, Calif., native getting traded. With the Yankees in the thick of the playoff chase, Jones could have been the prized piece in any deal that would have brought a big-name Major Leaguer to the Bronx. But unlike most players, who are hesitant to address their feelings about being mentioned as trade bait, Jones spoke candidly about it, explaining that he did not want to leave the Yankees organization.
“I haven’t experienced this yet, but I understand that playing in New York is different,” Jones said. “If you’re lucky enough to play professional baseball for a Major League team, you want to play for the most famous and historic team that there is: the New York Yankees. I see them as the pinnacle of baseball. To be part of the history of a team that cares so much about success and winning, where else would you rather be?”
Even before the promotion and the subsequent trade speculation, Jones was having his most productive all-around season, batting .274 with 16 home runs in 49 Double-A games. While it’s easy to attribute Jones’ breakout performance to time in the game, he believes the impetus for his vast improvement came during a conversation with a close friend in August 2024.
In his third professional season, Jones -- a career .270 hitter with 70 home runs in almost four complete seasons spanning Rookie ball through Triple-A -- was making steady progress in some areas, but he was also striking out more than ever. Although he was on track to hit a career-high 17 home runs in 2024, he would also finish the season with 200 strikeouts, second among all Minor League hitters.
After watching Jones play, fellow Nashville, Tenn., resident Will Haynie -- a former star at the University of Alabama and now a youth baseball coach -- and former Yankees pitcher Justin Wilson reached out to the former first-round pick in an effort to impart some of their observations.
“We spoke about some of the things I was doing well,” Jones said. “But they pointed out that I wasn’t doing them all of the time.”
After spending just a few hours with Haynie last August, Jones noticed an improvement.
“The day after I worked with him, I almost hit for the cycle,” Jones said. “The light bulb went on; I realized that there was some real work to do on my swing. I knew there were things I could do to make my swing better.”
As soon as he got back to Nashville after the season, Jones began spending a few hours each day with Haynie and Wilson.
“The one thing that I wanted to tackle this past offseason was a swing change,” Jones said. “I was with those guys five or six days a week. It was just me and them at a baseball facility working really hard. They helped me to change my patterns, and we moved stuff around a lot. It was hard at first. There were good days and bad days, but overall, it was super valuable.”
As the offseason moved along, Jones leaned heavily on Haynie’s advice, partly because they share a similar body type.
“He’s also a big guy,” Jones said of the 6-foot-5 former catcher. “He was able to teach me the progression of my swing, and he was able to work hands-on with me because he’s almost as tall as me. I was able to identify with what he was talking about because his swing was so much like mine.”
When Jones showed up for Spring Training in February, Duncan took notice of the progress he had made.
“In 2024, he was doing some impressive things,” the RailRiders’ skipper said. “I knew that he had a load of talent, but there was a long way to go for him to become a consistent player. This spring, I felt like I was watching a guy who had grown a lot mentally. He had gone through a lot of challenges, and he was still trying to finish the project of who he is. The thing that really stood out was that he’s really laid back and also wanting to learn every little thing he can. He’s confident in who he is, and he’s trying to be the best version of himself.”
In keeping with his desire to learn as much as he could and to continue his improvement before the regular season, Jones also spent time with another massive slugger, one who also happens to be as talented as anyone on the planet.
“I reached out to Aaron Judge in the offseason about some random things,” Jones said. “As we got into spring, there were some things that I was feeling with my swing, which I didn’t really know how to describe. I wanted to talk to him, get some one-on-one time with him. I was fortunate to get to work with him one morning before anyone else was there. We talked through some things, discussed what was new for me, as well as the things that he focuses on when he’s hitting. I was so grateful. It was a really nice morning. He’s a great leader and a great communicator.”
Starting the season with the same team that he played for in 2024 gave Jones much-needed continuity and, in his opinion, paved the way for his subsequent success.
“I really liked being in Somerset,” he said. “I had a good routine out there and a great relationship with the coaches. Having some familiar surroundings helped me get into a groove. The hitting coach, Mike Fransoso, was instrumental in helping me institute all the changes I had made in the offseason. It was a collaborative relationship. He had ideas for me, and I was able to pitch a lot of ideas to him.
“He got me to think about things differently. I wasn’t worrying about results but just making sure that I was in the right position. Mike’s openness to work with me on different things and to talk through them is definitely what springboarded me into being here in Scranton.”
Jones says that his perspective on the game also evolved this season. For the first time since his college days, he was able to deal with the ups and downs that come with every season without the trepidations that he previously had experienced.
“I realized that it’s OK to fail at times,” he said. “I realized that the season is so long; you have time to make adjustments. I was scared to make adjustments prior to this season because I didn’t want to change the things that got me to the point I was at. But when you hit a rut, you have to know what to do. This year has taught me more about the importance of having people in my life that can help me, and that they are there to support me in any facet.”
By the time Jones arrived in Scranton a few months into the season, he was well on his way to reaching his goal of being more consistent -- and on the cusp of putting up huge numbers. But even more than the gaudy stats, Duncan has been impressed with Jones’ newfound approach.
“His willingness to make mid-at-bat adjustments is what really stands out to me,” the manager said. “He will have some swing and miss early in the count, and then he’ll make that adjustment to get the barrel on the ball. With his size, speed and strength, all he has to do is get the barrel on the ball, and he’s going to hit it hard. Sometimes you think a pitcher has a fastball that is going to get by him with two strikes, and then he hits the next pitch out of the ballpark.”
From a technical standpoint, Duncan has noticed a significant change in Jones’ swing, and the skipper believes it has served him well.
“His swing has flattened out a lot since Spring Training, and that has helped with the swing and miss,” Duncan said. “He has improved a lot in that area. Our hitting coach, Michael Mergenthaler, does a really good job of understanding where Spencer is at mechanically, and he has helped him a lot with his approach. Spencer has less swing and miss with two strikes than he does with less than two strikes. Sometimes he brings that two-strike mentality to the plate at the beginning of his at-bats, and that has also helped a lot. There’s still room for growth in that area, but he has come a long way.”
Jones became the first Minor League player to reach 30 home runs when he went yard on Aug. 10. His bat cooled off in the ensuing weeks, but even through Jones’ tough times, his manager has seen characteristics that he believes will lead the left-handed slugger to big league success.
“When he hits a spell where he’s not the same version of himself, he’s constantly making micro-adjustments, working hard with our coaches, talking to other players and basically doing everything he needs to do in order to get back on track,” Duncan said. “He’s not letting a bad game or even a few weeks where he’s not hitting like he did in July defeat him. You get the same version of Spencer every day.”
Regardless of how this season turns out for Jones, the progress he has made will almost certainly pay dividends in the future. For those who have seen him up close, the idea that he can become a star on the field at Yankee Stadium -- and not just a highly touted prospect on the scoreboard -- has become a lot more real this summer.
“His ceiling is about as high as anyone can have,” Duncan said. “I don’t think you can say how high a player’s floor is going to be until you know how hard he works and who he wants to become. Spencer wants to become a really good all-around hitter, and he’s working hard to do that. He’s not just working hard to become a power hitter that is OK with just hitting home runs and striking out. You can see the work he’s putting into it. His floor has a chance to be really high, and his ceiling is through the absolute roof.”
Alfred Santasiere III is the editor-in-chief of Yankees Magazine. This story appears in the September 2025 edition. Get more articles like this delivered to your doorstep by purchasing a subscription to Yankees Magazine at www.yankees.com/publications.