Referring to any non-Aaron Judge player as “Aaron Judge” in one form or another is less of a moniker and more of a title, one that merits defending. Up until June, this is one title that Yankees minor leaguer Spencer Jones didn’t quite live up to.
Dubbed the “left-handed Aaron Judge” thanks to his immense power, Jones had only matched (and exceeded) one of the many aspects of Judge’s game (besides the 6-foot-7 height): the sky-high strikeout totals. Last season, Jones hit .259/.366/.452 with 17 home runs in 482 at-bats. His unexciting stat line was accompanied by a staggering 200 strikeouts, a Yankees’ minor league record. The main issue with Jones’ performance was that his power was robbed of its potential due to his inability to make contact.
To start 2025, it was looking like the same story. Jones was bumped from MLB Pipeline’s top 100 prospects list to start the year, found himself whiffing at an unchanged pace and watched as his trade value declined with his poor numbers. Then, in June, everything changed.
Squabbling to a .214 average in Double-A as recently as June 11, he would quickly catch fire, bringing his lowly batting average up to .274 by June 26. He was then promoted to Triple-A, where he is hitting to a staggering .385/.469/.846 stat line with five home runs in just 10 games. His strikeouts are still off-putting (15), but Jones is now giving us a glimpse of his massive potential.
On the year across both levels of the minors, Jones is hitting .294/.405/.640 in 214 at-bats. His 21 home runs this season are already a career high in fewer than half the at-bats it took him to reach his previous career high of 17. In addition, he has stolen 14 bases in 16 attempts.
On the verge of posting career highs all across the board, Jones is looking more than ready for his MLB debut, though with a crowded outfield of Judge, Cody Bellinger, Jasson Dominguez and Trent Grisham, squeezing him onto the roster presents a challenge. Nonetheless, hitting at his current pace, there is no way the Yankees can ignore him.