The Yankees came into the final stretch of September hoping their outfield would sort itself out before October. Instead, the Wild Card Series turned it into a real puzzle, and Spencer Jones ended up right in the middle of it.
Aaron Judge has been pushing to come back from a right calf strain. Trent Grisham has been working his way back from a hamstring injury.
Giancarlo Stanton has re-entered the roster discussion. Heliot Ramos is still in the mix in right field, while Cody Bellinger looks like the clear option in left.
So Aaron Boone isn’t just choosing bodies - he’s choosing between defense and offense, between experience and upside, between what a player has done all season and what he’s done lately.
Boston made the decision even trickier by lining up left-hander Payton Tolle for Game 1. Tolle was a problem for New York in the regular season, holding the Yankees to one earned run across 13 innings in two starts while striking out 18. That kind of matchup naturally boosts the value of right-handed bats, but it also forces the Yankees to weigh which left-handed hitters have actually handled same-side pitching.
That’s where Jones comes in.
The 25-year-old rookie has hit his way into a legitimate October argument, even in a spot where he wasn’t expected to be central just a year ago. Jones finished the season at .245/.313/.429 with 11 home runs, 40 RBIs and 10 stolen bases in 86 games. The swing-and-miss is still part of the package - he struck out 105 times in 289 plate appearances - but the production against lefties changed the conversation.
In 59 plate appearances against left-handed pitching, Jones hit .389 with a .441 on-base percentage and .667 slugging percentage. Against right-handers, his OPS was .646. Boone said Monday the Yankees weren’t brushing off that split because the sample was small.
“I think we get a lot of times caught up in a smaller sample, but from my watching him, I feel like he’s been really impressive against left-handed [pitching],” Boone said.
He also pointed to the quality of those at-bats.
“It’s not just, ‘Yeah, he’s gotten hits,’ but he’s faced a lot of tough lefties and not only held his own but kind of thrived,” Boone said.
The numbers help explain why Jones is in the mix, but they don’t settle the question. Statcast gave him a 94.1 mph average exit velocity and a 15.9 percent barrel rate, yet also graded him at minus-2 Outs Above Average overall, including minus-2 in center field. That matters in a short series, where one bad route or one shaky inning in center can tilt a game.
Grisham brings a different kind of value. He hit .211/.308/.395 with 18 homers and a .703 OPS, and he gives the Yankees a steadier defensive option in center field. That’s the tradeoff in front of Boone: Jones offers the more dangerous bat against the left-handed starter Boston plans to use, while Grisham offers the more established glove at a premium position.
Jones said the key to his success against lefties has been keeping things simple.
“It’s just about I think making tight turns,” Jones said, “and being ready and preparing yourself for left-handed arms. Kind of just having an idea, visualizing, what you want to do and where you want to hit the ball. It’s a combination of a lot of things.”
Grisham’s status could reshape everything. He has been out since Sept. 4 with a right hamstring strain, but he took live at-bats and worked in the outfield during Monday’s Yankee Stadium workout. Boone said Grisham was “very much in play” for the Wild Card roster.
If Grisham makes it, the Yankees can slide him back into center and use Jones in right, as a bench bat or in matchup-specific starts. If Judge is active but limited in the field, that creates another layer to the alignment. The Yankees could also choose Jones and let Grisham serve as a late defensive replacement.
A year ago, Jones wasn’t part of this conversation at all. He watched Cam Schlittler’s Wild Card Game 3 against Boston on an iPad while driving home from Triple-A with his girlfriend, with a stop at Chipotle along the way.
Now he’s waiting to see how much of October he gets.
“What I was thinking about was: being on the team, being in that lineup and being able to play in these games,” Jones said. “Now we get to come in here this week, and I’m excited about it.”
The Yankees don’t need to decide whether Jones belongs in the Wild Card discussion anymore. That part is settled. The real question is whether his bat is strong enough to outweigh the defensive security Grisham can still provide.
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