The New York Yankees are facing a major dilemma with Spencer Jones.
Spencer Jones delivered for the New York Yankees again on Sunday, going 2-for-3 with a walk and an RBI double during his team's 8-3 win over the Toronto Blue Jays.
Quietly, Jones has had hits in five of his last six games and six of his last eight, and he put together a pair of multi-hit contests over his last four.
He is now slashing .233/.315/.428 with seven home runs and 22 RBI over 178 plate appearances this season, and he has stolen eight bases in nine attempts.
Has he been consistently fantastic? No, but he has absolutely shown flashes of brilliance, demonstrating the ability to spray the ball to all fields while also displaying impressive plate discipline. His .192 ISO is noticeable, his average exit velocity is 94.2 mph and his 14 percent barrel rate is definitely eye-opening.
The problem? Jones may be hard up for playing time going forward. Cody Bellinger is now back in the lineup, and thanks to the Yankees' trade deadline acquisition of Heliot Ramos and the impending return of Aaron Judge, Jones might not have a spot.
Trent Grisham is pretty clearly the starting center fielder, so Jones, at this point, has mostly been relegated to playing the corners. That's going to be awfully tough once Judge returns, and it will even be challenging for him now that Bellinger is back in the fold.
New York Yankees outfielder Spencer Jones. Credit: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images.It begs the question: how much playing time should New York give Jones for the remainder of the regular season?
Personally, I feel that Jones should be prioritized over Ramos, even against left-handed pitching. Want to hear something funny? Jones is actually hitting lefties (.333/.419/.704) better than righties (.212/.293/.371) this season.
Yes, it's a very small sample size of 31 plate appearances, but perhaps the 25-year-old is not as inept against southpaws as some initially thought.
Ramos' main claim to fame is his ability to mash left-handers, but he is also batting just .113 with a .419 OPS since arriving in the Bronx at the MLB trade deadline.
Are the Yankees really going to snub Jones for someone with those numbers?
Right now, Ramos is Jones' competition. He isn't playing over Grisham unless Grisham gets a day off. That much is obvious. But Jones needs at-bats.
I have been pretty firm in my belief that Jones is going to be a central piece to New York's future, so benching him in favor of Ramos should not be something the Yankees regularly do. Again, I don't quite understand why New York acquired Ramos to begin with.
I like the idea of getting Jones as much playing time as possible in the heat of the pennant race. It's a great way to establish himself as a key cog moving forward, and it will certainly toughen him up.
The Yankees need to handle this situation with care, because it's pretty clear they have a potential star on their hands.
