Spencer Jones may have forced the Yankees to rethink their winter plans.
At 25, Jones has put together a season that looks less like a promising stretch and more like a real answer in center field. He’s hitting .259/.331/.452 with 10 home runs, 37 RBI and nine stolen bases, and he’s done it across more than 250 plate appearances.
That matters. This isn’t some tiny run of production that can be brushed off.
That’s why the old question of whether New York needs to keep Trent Grisham or hunt for a center fielder in free agency suddenly feels a lot less urgent. If Jones keeps doing this, where exactly is that outside help supposed to fit?
Luis Robert would have made sense as a target if Jones hadn’t emerged the way he has. Robert brings pop and speed, but the Yankees may be better off steering those resources elsewhere now.
Jones has enough power of his own - maybe more. The underlying numbers back it up, too.
According to Baseball Savant, Jones owns a 94.1 MPH average exit velocity, a 15.7% barrel rate, a 54.7% hard-hit rate and a 77.2 MPH average bat speed. That’s a loud offensive profile, and it’s the kind of raw power the Yankees aren’t likely to find sitting on the open market.
The defensive piece is still a work in progress. Jones has been charged with -2 Outs Above Average this season, so there have been bumps in center. But the tools are there, and the Yankees can live with some mistakes if the bat keeps playing like this.
He also brings real athletic upside. Jones has 89th-percentile sprint speed and 80th-percentile arm strength, both of which stand out when stacked against Grisham’s 34th-percentile sprint speed and 65th-percentile arm strength. That speed matters in center, especially when it gives him a chance to run down balls Grisham might not reach.
Grisham’s own defensive numbers have slipped, too. He has a -6 Outs Above Average this season, down from -2 in 2025, which only sharpens the case for Jones continuing to grow into the job.
No one is saying Jones has to become Willie Mays out there. The Yankees just need him to be competent.
If he is, the payoff is obvious. He can flip a game with one swing, sending a ball 450 feet and changing everything in an instant.
The signs were there in spring training, but this kind of impact is still tough to see coming.
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