“Jaws dropped.”
The New York Yankees explored both the free-agent (FA) and trade markets in their quest to rebuild their franchise. The result was a big trade that brought in Juan Soto from the San Diego Padres. In exchange for Soto and Trent Grisham, the Padres sent pitchers Michael King, Drew Thorpe, Yani Brito, Randy Vazquez, and catcher Kyle Higashioka in a two-for-five trade.
Like the Soto trade, the team has also hit the trade market to bolster its starting rotation. The Yankees have also tried to trade for starting pitching, including Corbin Burns (to Baltimore) and Dylan Sears (to the Chicago White Sox), but have been unable to pull off the deals.
The Yankees have not let up on their desire to add power. 바카라사이트 They tried unsuccessfully to acquire Yoshinobu Yamamoto (Los Angeles Dodgers) in international free agency. They were also prepared to spend over $200 million to acquire last year’s National League Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell, but negotiations fell apart.
In the process, the Yankees said they were willing to bleed, but there was one player they were determined to keep. That player was Spencer Jones, 23, the 25th overall pick in the first round of the 2022 First-Year Player Draft out of Vanderbilt University.
Jones reached Single-A in 2022 and was promoted to Double-A last year from High Single-A.
In 117 games in the minors last year, he batted .267 (128-for-480) with 16 home runs, 66 RBI, 43 doubles, and a .780 OPS. He was the Yankees’ No. 2 overall prospect in the 2024 Major League Pipeline rankings and No. 1 on the team in the 2023 rankings.
Despite being a 6-foot-3, 220-pounder, he has the athleticism to steal 43 bases in a season and play center field. He’s similar to teammate Aaron Judge, who is a 6-foot-2, 201-pound behemoth. The only difference is that Jersey is a right-handed hitter and Spencer is a left-handed hitter.
Jones made an immediate impact in his spring training exhibition game debut on Friday. With two outs in the top of the fifth inning against the Detroit Tigers at Joker Merchants Stadium at Petco Park in Tampa, Florida, Jones hit a solo shot over the right-center field fence. Statcast measured the home run at 470 feet (about 143 meters). He went 3-for-3 with one home run, four RBIs and two runs scored, including the massive blast, and showed why he’s untradeable.
“It was jaw-dropping,”
Yankees shortstop Anthony Wolf said, “The physical stuff definitely stands out. But what he did at the plate today showed how much of a pure hitter (contact) he is. It was very impressive.”
“I think it went about 470 feet,” said manager Aaron Boone, which was an accurate estimate. “It was a long, towering home run to right-center field. I don’t think he’s shown all the clips,” Boone said, explaining that there’s a lot of potential for Jones to show in the future.
“He battled really well and handled it well. He made some meaningful at-bats to the other side today. It was good to see.” “The first thing I noticed was how fast he is. He’s a big guy, but the way he moves to get to the ball, he’s a good defender in center field.”
MLB.com compared Jones to a left-handed version of Jersey,
“Jones clearly knows how to make an impact. “General manager Brian Cashman recently said he expects Jones to start the season at Double-A, where he played just 17 games last year,” and “Cashman has rejected numerous trade offers that included Jones, including the Milwaukee Brewers for Corbin Burns and the White Sox for Dillon Sizemore. San Diego also asked for Jones in the Juan Soto trade discussions,” he explained, reiterating that Jones was a player everyone wanted and the Yankees knew they had to keep.
“Jones was the best option for us,” Cashman said. He’s very talented and has a lot of potential. “He’s a very talented player, and we’re looking forward to bringing him to big league camp, 토토사이트 추천 getting a feel for him and starting the season in Double-A. I know he’s been asked a lot of questions and our evaluations are pretty much the same,” he said, lavishing praise on the highly touted prospect.