The New York Yankees have a new star on the rise.
For years, New York Yankees fans had been awaiting the arrival of Spencer Jones, the former top prospect who unfortunately slid off of top-100 prospect lists heading into the 2026 MLB campaign.
With Jones having turned 25 years old in May, many were losing hope for the young slugger, who was beginning to look more like trade fodder than a legitimate core piece.
Well, the hulking outfielder was finally promoted to the big leagues in the spring, and after a couple of demotions back down to the minors, Jones appears to be here to stay.
Jones' latest conquest occurred in a 7-3 win over the Los Angeles Angels on Tuesday night, when the lefty slugger went 2-for-3 with a two-home run, an RBI single, a couple of walks and a slick, sliding catch in right field.
Over his last 14 games, Jones is slashing .357/.404/.690 with four homers and 10 RBI, and he has trimmed his strikeout rate down to 29.8 percent during that span. That's obviously still high, but it's a major step forward for Jones.
Of course, Jones needs more time. It's still just his rookie season, and anything can happen moving forward. But it's hard not to be very encouraged by what we've seen from the Vanderbilt product here in 2026.
What's most impressive about Jones offensively is his ability to spray the ball to all fields. Not only is that a terrific quality for such an inexperienced player, but it's also particularly rare for lefty power hitters, who are typically pull-oriented.
The 6-foot-7, 240-pound behemoth is also very patient at the plate, which is reflected in his solid 9.7 percent walk rate.
Taking things a bit further, Jones boasts an incredible 15 percent barrel rate, a ridiculous 55.8 percent hard-hit rate and an average exit velocity of 94.2 mph.
Jones is smacking lasers around the diamond, and it seems very obvious that he has 40-homer potential. Especially within the friendly confines of Yankee Stadium.
There is no question that Jones' defense could use a bit of work, but his long strides and athleticism allow him to cover tremendous ground in the outfield. So there is definitely potential for the former first-round pick to become a plus defender.
Not only that, but Jones has already stolen nine bases in 11 attempts this season.
Oh, and remember Jones' "struggles" against left-handed pitching? Well, he is batting .400 with a 1.161 OPS versus southpaws this year. So maybe Aaron Boone should just turn him loose against lefties regularly?
Jones still has a long way to go. He is slashing .245/.320/.451 with nine home runs and 28 RBI on the campaign as a whole. Those are solid numbers; not great.
But it's hard to ignore how much progress he has made in recent weeks, and it's becoming increasingly evident that his confidence is growing in spades.
