Yankees' Spencer Jones catches fire after slow start at Double-A, selected to Futures Game
BRIDGEWATER – Somerset Patriots outfielder Spencer Jones is headed to the Futures Game for the second straight year.
It didn’t always look like it was going to go that way, however.
Considered the No. 75 prospect in all of baseball by MLB Pipeline, the 6-foot-6, 235-pounder had struggled through an abysmal month of May where he saw his average dip to as low as .205, but he put in the work to get his year turned around in June to quickly re-establish himself as one of the top players in the Yankees system.
“I wasn’t really thinking about it too much, to be honest,” said Jones of a second straight trip to Major League Baseball’s annual mid-summer prospect showcase. “I was more so focused on the games here day-to-day. It’s one of those things you can’t really control being picked for, so I was just doing my best day-to-day, and it worked out like this.”
The Yankees No. 2 prospect hit .296 with six homers and 29 RBI, and raised his average 47 points in June.
Jones remained largely mum on adjustments made to get back to this point, saying he was just being himself, and was bringing good energy to the field every day in Double-A. That’s not to say the 23-year-old isn’t going to allow himself to enjoy his return to the big stage this time around; he went 0-for-1 with a walk and a strikeout in Seattle last year, but said it was a “pretty quick” experience.
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“First time around, you don’t really know what to expect, but I think the second time around, I’m going to try to just enjoy it as much as possible,” he said. “Soak in the moment, soak in those days. It goes quick, so you want to enjoy it as much as possible. I’ve got some friends there, so it’ll be good to connect with whoever I run into. I’m sure it’ll be a nice meeting of the baseball community.”
Heading into Tuesday night’s game against Reading Fightin’ Phils, Jones was hitting .252 on the year with nine homers and 45 RBI and has stolen 18 bases while putting up a .752 OPS.