Spencer

Jones

Since August 1st, Jones has gone 32-for-162 (.197) with four home runs, 16 RBI, and a 79/13 K/BB ratio. More and more, it’s looking like his hot start at Triple-A was a bit of a mirage, and the contact issues continue to be a concern.

After getting off to a torrid start when he was first called up to Triple-A, Jones is slashing .172/.245/.299 in 87 at-bats in August. He has three home runs in the month but also has 34 strikeouts to just seven walks, which highlights to major contact issues that have been a part of his profile as a prospect. There is no denying the raw tools, but Jones is a volatile prospect based on his major swing-and-miss concerns.

Jones remains one of the most challenging prospects to forecast from a pure fantasy perspective as he combines top-of-the-scale raw power with abysmal contact skills. The 24-year-old slugging prospect could receive a late-season cameo with the Yankees, but their outfield mix is overcrowded already. It’s easy to envision him as an extremely streaky power bat whose highs and lows figure to be more boom-or-bust peaks and valleys than steady ebbs and flows.

He also struck out twice, so it was a bit of a complete Spencer Jones game. The 24-year-old has cooled off after his hot stretch to begin his Triple-A career and is just 5-for-38 (.132) in August with one home run, seven steals, and a 13/6 K/BB ratio. The power and speed will never go away, but he’s going to need to make more consistent contact before an MLB call-up.

The Athletics also wanted “young pitching,” so the overall scope of the request would depend on which pitchers they had asked for. However, Mason Miller is under team control for four more seasons after this one and could have been the Yankees’ closer of the future. This deadline for the Yankees may come down to what type of MLB player Spencer Jones turns into.

In his last five games, Jones has gone 2-for-16 with five strikeouts and two walks. Just five strikeouts in five games is a positive sign for Jones, but it was only a matter of time before he cooled off from his absurd hot streak to start his Triple-A career. The 24-year-old has a 67 percent contact rate and 17.3 percent swinging strike rate during his 24 games at Triple-A, so we should expect to see the batting average continue to fall a bit in the coming weeks.

The Yankees seem set on improving the rotation, and while Alcantara’s numbers still leave a bit to be desired, he’s been excellent in his latest few outings and isn’t long removed from being one of the top pitchers in baseball. Cabrera represents more of an upside play, but both would be upgrades for the Yankees. Morosi mentions Spencer Jones as a potential trade candidate in such a deal. It’ll be interesting to see if New York is willing to give up on that kind of potential power to bolster the starting five.

There’s no word yet on the return, but this would appear to crush any hopes of Spencer Jones being called up by the Yankees any time soon. It also seems to imply that Aaron Judge (elbow) could spend a lot of time at designated hitter once he returns from the IL. Slater can play anywhere in the outfield and is tremendous against left-handed pitching, so he’s a natural short-side platoon partner for Trent Grisham and Jasson Dominguez in the outfield.

Jones returns to the lineup following a two-game absence due to back spasms. The 24-year-old slugger has been on an other-worldly power surge of late at the Triple-A level with 13 home runs in just 19 games since being promoted back in late June. There’s a chance the Yankees bring him up at some point in late August since it wouldn’t impact his rookie eligibility status for next year.

The encouraging news for the Yankees — and fantasy managers — is that initial imaging showed no UCL damage in Judge’s right elbow. The 32-year-old franchise icon suffered the injury earlier this week and is expected to miss multiple weeks. According to SNY’s Andy Martino, top prospect Spencer Jones — currently sidelined at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre with back spasms — is not expected to be called up to replace him. Yankees manager Aaron Boone said Giancarlo Stanton could see time in right field while Judge is sidelined, and it feels like a near certainty the club will add a veteran outfielder ahead of this week’s trade deadline.