How the Yankees Should Evaluate Spencer Jones After Big-League Call-Up

Spencer Jones had a tough go of things in his big league debut with the New York Yankees. Standing across from him on the mound was Jacob Misiorowski, who just so happens to be one of the most electric pitchers in Major League Baseball, and maybe electric is downplaying just how good Misiorowski is.

The first pitch Jones saw in the big leagues was a 103.6 MPH fastball, which is the type of pitch that probably hasn't been seen since Aroldis Chapman first appeared on the scene with the Cincinnati Reds. Jones had a tough night despite drawing a walk, but then again, so too did the entire Yankees lineup, so it's hard to make any sort of evaluation on what the rookie was like at the plate, because even Aaron Judge struggled.

On the night, Misiorowski threw 40 pitches over 100 MPH. Just throw that game away, and consider the next one Jones' official debut.

Moving forward with Jones

If there's one thing the Yankees should do with their top outfield prospect, who is sitting behind the likes of George Lombard Jr. on all the rankings, it's simply give him whatever leeway Jasson Dominguez was going to get. Jones should get the opportunity to play every day just to see what they have with him.

The blueprint for Jones should be what the Mets are doing with Carson Benge across town. Benge got off to a really slow start, and while his numbers on the back of the baseball card don't look so hot, it's clear that their young outfielder is putting it together. In his last 47 plate appearances, he's hitting .326/.383/.558 with 167 wRC+.

Altogether, for Benge, he has had 120 big league plate appearances, and that could be what Jones gets as the Yankees wait for Dominguez and Giancarlo Stanton to return. The organization could go for a safe option and potentially find a veteran to pluck into the equation, as they did with Randal Grichuk, but the thing about Jones is that his tools are just too tantalizing.

Sure, Jones strikes out at an exorbitant clip, but he is known to have a good centerfield glove, while also having the ability to park a ball on the moon when he makes contact. In the minors, Jones had an average exit velocity of 95.7 MPH and a max exit velocity of 117.4. Jones also had a 29.3% barrel rate and a 58.7% hard-hit rate.

It's Stantonian-type power, and what these Yankees have shown is that they can still have a stellar offense — as long as they don't have to face Misiorowski and Nathan Eovaldi every night — with parts of the lineup still not clicking. It took a while before Ryan McMahon really figured things out, and Trent Grisham is just now putting some of that bad luck to rest.

If Jones takes a bit to get his feet wet in the big leagues, it will be worth it. He has the type of power to carry on offense in the ways that Judge and Stanton can. It would be unfair to compare him to either, but with that power, one can dream.

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