Spencer Jones was named to the All-Star Futures Game on Tuesday, a day after the Double-A Somerset outfielder was named Eastern League Player of the Week.
The 23-year-old Jones has had an up-and-down season with Somerset and is the Yankees’ second-ranked prospect, behind the injured Jasson Dominguez.
And though Dominguez shot through the Yankees’ farm system and made his MLB debut when he was just 20, the organization isn’t necessarily in a rush to get the 6-foot-6 Jones to the majors, even after his first four-hit, multihomer game at Double-A on Saturday.
“The exciting thing about Spencer is, he has days where he gets four hits and hits moonshots and steals bases, but we talk a lot in the organization about [Dellin] Betances [and] Aaron Judge and how bigger bodies take a little bit of time to grow into themselves,’’ vice president of player development Kevin Reese said. “Spencer is super-athletic, but he’s got some things he still needs to work on, and I don’t think anyone thought there wouldn’t be any speed bumps along the way. He’s pretty much on schedule for us.”
The 6-8 Betances and Judge, 6-7, both took a while to develop.
And like Judge, Jones was also drafted by the Yankees late in the first round out of college.
Judge went 32nd overall out of Fresno State in 2013, and Jones was drafted 25th overall in 2022 out of Vanderbilt.
Judge was 25 during his breakout rookie season of 2017, and Betances was 26 when he emerged as an All-Star right-hander out of the bullpen in 2014.
Asked about similarities between Jones and Judge, Reese said, “If anything, the lesson to be learned [with Judge] is patience. Aaron did some things that made him the player that he is. It helped that he was gifted, but he worked his butt off and wasn’t afraid to take some risks along the way in his development. That’s probably the biggest takeaway. The story is never fully written. The development process never really ends.”
To Reese’s point, Jones has struck out 107 times this season, the most in the Eastern League.
But he’s also fourth in stolen bases with 18 and fifth in RBIs with 45.
Double-A left-hander Brock Selvidge was also selected to the Futures Game, which will be held July 13 at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas.
