David Lennon: For Yankees, it's next man up as Spencer Jones becomes latest Triple-A call-up
Yankees’ Spencer Jones homers against the Detroit Tigers during a spring training game at George M. Steinbrenner Field on Feb. 21, 2026, in Tampa, Fla. Credit: Newsday/J. Conrad Williams Jr.
The last time Scranton was this popular, “The Office” still had Steve Carell. These days, the Yankees’ Triple-A affiliate is getting plenty of action in the Bronx, whether it was the debate over Anthony Volpe’s demotion, recent call-up Jasson Dominguez’s scary wall collision or pitcher Brendan Beck’s timely major-league debut in Thursday’s 9-2 victory over the Rangers.
That’s a lot of impactful RailRiders, and there’s more coming, with lefty slugger Spencer Jones en route to replace Dominguez, who was put on the injury list Thursday after an MRI revealed a low-grade AC joint sprain of his left shoulder. Dominguez and Jones were the bash brothers of Tampa this spring, doing plenty of damage in the Grapefruit League, but the switch-hitting Martian beat him to the bigs last week when Giancarlo Stanton wound up on the IL with a calf strain.
Now, the stage belongs to Jones, the DH/outfielder who will make his major-league debut — a source confirmed — while helping to fill the power void in a big way. He was raking down at Scranton, with 11 homers, 41 RBIs and a .958 OPS in 33 games, providing an almost nightly fireworks show with his spectacular blasts. With Stanton out indefinitely, this was supposed to be Dominguez’s career-defining chance. Instead, the opportunity belongs to Jones, who turns 25 next week and has been waiting too long to put on the pinstripes for real.
“That’s a large man that hits the ball very far,” Cody Bellinger said Thursday after the Yankees won their sixth straight series. “Honestly, a freak athlete, too. I didn’t know about the speed. Very athletic, moves well. Just a good baseball player.”
The 6-7 Jones not only stands eye-to-eye with the likes of Stanton and Aaron Judge, he’s got the muscle to go toe-to-toe in a longest drive contest with either one. Jones doesn’t hit wall-scrapers, and the Yankees are getting him at the right time, as he was batting .353 (12-for-34) with six homers and 15 RBIs in his last eight games.
“He got off to an OK start, then hit a little snag there for a week or so,” Aaron Boone said. “But the last three or four weeks, he’s been having a lot of consistent at-bats, the power’s been there, less swing- and-miss. which is some of the things we were seeing a little bit in spring training.”
The whiffs had been the biggest concern with Jones, along with his chronic struggles against lefty pitching. He hit 35 homers last season in 116 games divided between Scranton and Double-A Somerset, but piled up a sobering 179 strikeouts in 506 plate appearances. Jones also batted .189 vs. lefties a year ago with a .662 OPS compared to .296 against righthanders with a 1.003 OPS. This season, his splits are .160 and .284, respectively, so Jones — the Yankees’ No. 6 prospect — will be deployed accordingly up here.
“He shows up every day with the same attitude,” said Beck, who was summoned Thursday from Scranton and allowed two runs over three innings. “Whether it’s a good or bad day, it doesn’t matter for that guy. I think he’ll be successful.”
And Jones’ power?
“It’s special,” Beck added.
That’ll fit right in with a Yankees team that leads the majors in home runs (61) and dropped to second in slugging percentage (.456) but didn’t go deep once Thursday in earning their 16th victory in the past 19 games. Boone was forced to scramble from the moment he showed up in his office for the early 12:30 p.m. first pitch, as Jose Caballero was unable to start due to getting drilled on the left elbow the previous night and Ben Rice still was nursing a bruised left hand.
That put super-utility man Max Schuemann at shortstop and Amed Rosario at third against Rangers lefty MacKenzie Gore. Dominguez even drew the rare start in leftfield with Judge getting a DH day, but that plan lasted for a total of six pitches when Texas leadoff hitter Brandon Nimmo sliced a deep drive toward the Martian’s direction.
Dominguez made a fantastic catch, but smashed into the wall at full speed and collapsed on the warning track. It took a few minutes for him to even get to his feet, and after the trainers ran him through a series of tests, Dominguez was carted off upright in the passenger seat.
The frightening collision forced Boone to shuffle the lineup yet again, taking Ryan McMahon off the bench for third base, moving Rosario to rightfield and Bellinger to left. McMahon responded by going 2-for-3 with a double and RBI single. He’s hitting .326 (15-for-46) with three doubles and two homers in his last 14 games.
The Yankees totaled 14 hits with the makeshift lineup, and it was Trent Grisham — Mr. High Leverage himself — who delivered the big blow with his bases-clearing double in the sixth inning. Bellinger stayed hot as well, reaching base four times (3-for-4, triple, two RBIs) and is now batting .394 (13-for-33) with runners in scoring position this season.
On the mound, Boone had to piece things together too, using six pitchers to finish the job after Paul Blackburn made the emergency start for the ailing Ryan Weathers. Beck didn’t get the call until late Wednesday night at his hotel in Worcester, Massachusetts, but with the RailRiders playing only 2 1⁄2 hours away by car, he was comfortably in his Manhattan hotel by midnight.
Now the Yankees anxiously await to see what Jones can do this weekend in Milwaukee.
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
