Spencer Jones has already put together a winter checklist, and the item at the top is not the one most people would have guessed.
After the Yankees were eliminated by the Tampa Bay Rays, Jones said he was already thinking about what comes next and where he needs to grow before 2027. His own words make the priorities pretty clear.
“In my own head, I’ve got a list of things I want to work on, things I want to do. I’m motivated after this.
Just move forward, head down into the next season. I struck out a million times this year.
I feel like I didn’t help the team in certain contexts that way. I think defensively, I think I can get better.
I think I can get faster. And then the mental side of the game - leaning on the resources we have here and making sure that I’m the best competitor when the season starts next year,” Jones said following the Yankees' elimination at the hands of the Tampa Bay Rays
For a player whose prospect label has long come wrapped in swing-and-miss warnings, that admission about the strikeouts would normally dominate the conversation. And yes, the strikeouts remain part of the story.
Jones is a massive power bat with massive whiff risk, and at 6-foot-7, his size naturally works against him a little. His zone is bigger, his swing is longer, and every move takes just a beat longer to fully unfold.
Still, the more pressing issue for the Yankees is what Jones does with the glove.
The strikeout concern is real, but it is not the biggest problem right now. Jones did make progress during the season, and the production with the bat suggests there’s something to work with.
Among the 10 qualified hitters in 2026 who struck out more than 30 percent of the time, seven still finished with a wRC+ above 100, and that group averaged a 109.9 wRC+. Jones was at a 111 wRC+ from July 22 onward.
He also hits the ball extremely hard when he connects.
So while the whiffs draw attention, the defense is where the alarm bells are louder.
Jones had a strong defensive reputation in the minors, especially in center field, and the physical tools are obvious. He ran at the 89th percentile in sprint speed and the 79th percentile in arm strength. But the results in the majors were rough: -4 outs above average, -4 defensive runs saved, and a -3 fielding run value across just 315 1/3 innings in center field.
Stretch that out over a full season, and it lands in very uncomfortable territory.
There are explanations floating around. Some think moving him around the outfield, with work in both right and left in addition to center, made things harder.
Others believe the higher stands in big league parks, compared with the minor league fields he came up on, affected his reads on fly balls. But those reasons do not change what the Yankees have in front of them.
They have already watched Jasson Dominguez run into defensive trouble, and they cannot afford to let Jones go down the same path.
That matters even more because the center-field alternatives are thin. The free-agent options mentioned are Cedric Mullins, Daulton Varsho, and Trent Grisham, which is not exactly a list that inspires confidence.
The other internal possibility would be moving Cody Bellinger to center, but that would take him away from left field, where he is the better defender. Given how much defense has already been an issue for the Yankees, that is not the kind of shuffle they should want to make.
Jones has given the Yankees reasons to believe in his work ethic and his ability to improve. His production against lefties and in big moments has already shown what he can do when things click. Now the task is to turn that growth into real value in center field.
If he can clean up the glove, keep trimming the strikeouts, and keep the rest of his game moving forward, the Yankees will take it. But the most important box he needs to check this offseason is clear: defense first.
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