Roger Rubin: Yankees could benefit from having Spencer Jones replace Trent Grisham
The Yankees' Spencer Jones celebrates after hitting an RBI double during the second inning of a game against the San Diego Padres Saturday in San Diego. Credit: AP Photo/Gregory Bull/Gregory Bull
This is what had to happen for the Yankees. The circumstances simply made sure it did. Call it fate, if you go in for that sort of thing.
In the past three weeks, Spencer Jones has been making a very strong case that he should be the choice to start in centerfield over Trent Grisham. Whether the organization agreed that he’d made that case became irrelevant this weekend. Grisham suffered a Grade 2 strain of his right hamstring in Friday’s loss to San Diego and got put on the 10-day injured list before the Yankees' win over the Padres on Saturday.
That development puts Jones in centerfield going forward, and that’s where he could remain for the rest of the season. Grisham was out for three weeks after suffering a strain in a different part of the same hamstring in June, and only three weeks remain in the regular season.
No one wants anything to happen because of an injury, but this one accomplishes a couple of things for the Yankees.
Jones is a surging offensive force right now. The 25-year-old rookie had a .328/.365/.586 slash line in the last 18 games before the Yankees lost to San Diego, 4-3, on Sunday, and he had a run-scoring double that ignited a three-run rally in the eighth inning.
In three at-bats against Padres starter Michael King, he saw 22 pitches before lining a 100.3-mph fastball from lefthanded reliever Adrian Morejon to the opposite field and inside the third-base line to drive in the rally’s first run.
Grisham had become a liability in a 4-for-44 slump before suffering the injury. He has not been the player whose 34 home runs and .811 OPS in 2025 prompted the Yankees to give him a $22 million qualifying offer instead of letting him hit the free-agent market.
His .211 batting average this season is fourth worst in the AL among qualified players and his defense has been substandard. Possibly because of the effects of the hamstring injury he had just suffered, he was unable to get to a bloop RBI single on Friday night, the only run off Max Fried in what ultimately could have been a 1-0 victory for the Yankees instead of a 3-2, 10-inning loss.
So the first thing this does for the Yankees is put the better option in the starting lineup.
The other matter has to do with the imminent return of Aaron Judge from the rib fracture that has sidelined him since the start of June and the corresponding move that would have to come with it.
The three-time American League MVP will face live pitching at the Stadium on Monday (the Yankees have not said against whom), and doing that once or twice would check off the final boxes for him to be activated.
When Grisham went on the IL Saturday, Jasson Dominguez was called up. Where the Yankees might have had a tough decision on the corresponding move — sending Jones to the minors or designating Amed Rosario for assignment would have been the leading contenders — now they can simply send Dominguez, who made a two-base error in rightfield Sunday that ended up not having consequences, back to the minors.
Jones’ development this season has been fairly remarkable. This is his third stint with the major-league club, and each time he has been called up, the Yankees have gotten a better version.
Manager Aaron Boone has used the term “adaptability” several times and said last month at the Stadium, “He’s making the most of the experience he’s getting and incorporating [it].”
Jones played 10 games in his first stint and hit .167 with no home runs and two RBIs. In his second turn in the majors, he played 20 games and hit .265 with two home runs and five RBIs. Sunday was his 40th game in this third call-up, and he is batting .254 with seven home runs and 24 RBIs (plus eight stolen bases).
Jones is a rookie and, as Boone has said several times, “not a finished product.” He is speedy in the outfield but doesn’t always take the best route to the ball and has looked apprehensive about contact with the rightfield wall at the Stadium, but he also has showcased a strong and accurate arm.
One early-season concern about the lefthanded-hitting Jones was his ability to hit lefthanded pitching, something that could have defined him as a platoon player. The double against elite setup man Morejon, however, lifted his slash line against lefties to .415/.478/.707 in 41 at-bats and 46 plate appearances.
“Morejon is as tough as it gets . . . just about as tough a left-on-left [matchup] as you’re going to see,” Boone said. “It’s why I had [pinch-hit] most of our righties. [Jones] is just doing a really good job of slowing the game down, and another really good at-bat there against that.”
“He throws things hard, so just trying to see one of the fastballs . . . up in the zone a little bit,” Jones said. “I was able to just get a piece of it and hit it down the line. It was a good result.”
Judge is expected to play rightfield when he returns but likely will need some games at DH. And if there is a day to play Heliot Ramos in the outfield over Jones, Cody Bellinger can move from left to center without a defensive drop-off.
But in the big picture, a left-to-right of Bellinger, Jones and Judge going forward gives the Yankees the best chance to win in these critical final three weeks. Like Jones’ eighth-inning hit, that alignment is a good result.
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.
