Spencer Jones will officially not be starting the season in The Bronx.
The 24-year-old outfielder was optioned to Triple-A camp along with right-handed pitcher Elmer Rodrigues on Monday, the team announced.
The path to the big leagues for one of the team’s top prospects was pretty much blocked with an outfield of Cody Bellinger, Trent Grisham and Aaron Judge already set barring injury and Giancarlo Stanton ready to be the team’s DH again.
There have long been concerns about Jones’ propensity to strikeout, but he was having a standout spring through 18 at-bats. Jones hit .333 with three homers, seven RBIs and a 1.344 OPS.
“He’s done a nice job,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said of Jones after Saturday’s 3-0 spring loss to the Nationals. “He’s worked really hard this winter to make adjustments to try to hone his craft and had pretty good results here the first few weeks of games.”
