Yankees see Spencer Jones as first-round talent with five tools and ‘raw power’ – UK Time News

In a perfect Yankees universe, one Aaron Judge would have helped create another.

The Yankees used their first round pick in the 2022 draft on Spencer Jones, a 6-foot-7, 225-pound California Vanderbilt star who, despite his size, has managed to hold onto the midfield.

Drafted 25th overall, Jones is a left-handed batter, while Judge, also 6-foot-7, from California and with a lot of power, was the 32nd overall pick in 2013 and a deserved one. With the Yankees, Judge has become a midfield star who can play alongside 6-foot-6 Giancarlo Stanton, whose body type is also more commonly found in the NBA.

That the Yankees are adept at developing and working with unusually tall players provides “some consolation” in selecting Jones, their vice president of domestic amateur scouting, Damon Oppenheimer, said.

“You might go deep in your head, ‘OK, we’ve had Aaron and we’ve had Stanton, we’ve had a few guys like that and they’ve done a good job,’” Oppenheimer said during a conference call. Wednesday, a day after the design was ready. “Maybe we’re pretty good at that. So it’s just a little piece of [the appeal].”

Most of the appeal is a five-tool talent who hit 12 home runs in 61 games, with a .460 on-base percentage this season for Vanderbilt.

“He’s got big, raw power. He can use the whole field to hit,” Oppenheimer said of Jones, 21, who the Yankees have been talking to since he was in high school in Southern California. “He can throw, he’s a good runner and he’s a good defender. The ease with which he does things is quite special.”

Jones was the first of 20 college players to pick the Yankees; they never picked one out of the high school grades. Oppenheimer said they were “very, very close” to a few high school students, but he pointed out that the Yankees’ bonus pool — the money available to them to use to sign conscripts — is the fourth-lowest. High school students often need bigger signing bonuses to convince them to revoke their college commitments.

Of the Yankees’ 20 picks, 15 were pitchers.

“If you go back and look at … the history of drafts, if you want to get the major league value deeper into the draft, 80 percent of the time, 90 percent of the time it’s pitching,” said Oppenheimer, whose Yankees selected a pitcher with 10 of their last 12 picks.

Oppenheimer was especially happy with eighth-round infielder Brett Barrera, one of the few position players they landed. The Yankees named the Stanford junior as shortstop, although he mostly played second base last season, hitting .351 with 11 homeruns in 63 games.

“You get a guy like that from Stanford — those guys tend to make it,” Oppenheimer said.

He also named Northeast right-wing Cam Schlittler (seventh round) and Sebastian Keane (18th-round), and Mississippi State right-wing Jackson Fristoe (12th round) as selections he was particularly happy with.

“I think we have some guys who can surprise people,” Oppenheimer said.