Why Yankees' Spencer Jones isn't an MLB top-100 prospect originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Spencer Jones continues to launch home runs in Spring Training for the New York Yankees.
It likely won't change his chances of making the Opening Day roster, but it's sure making more baseball fans aware of this 6-foot-7 slugger with the prodigious power.
When he connects with the baseball, Jones looks like one of the most promising sluggers in baseball.
It might surprise some fans, then, to learn that he didn't make any of the major top-100 prospect lists this offseason.
Maybe the rankings got Jones wrong. Or maybe their concerns are warranted. Only time will tell.
Right now, Jones is doing the best he can in the early days of spring and launching baseballs a long way.
Why isn't Spencer Jones a top-100 prospect?
Jones' prospect ranking comes down mostly to his contact ability.
Yes, he's loaded up with power, and he's got some athleticism, too. But his swing-and-miss happens at a prolific rate, too.
Last season at Triple-A, Jones struck out 109 points in 298 plate appearances.
That's a worse rate than anything Aaron Judge ever had coming through the minor leagues as his own version of a 6-foot-7 slugger.
Jones did hit .274, which sums up the damage he does when making contact, along with his .897 OPS at Triple-A.
It's just a question of contact.
If Jones can make contact at a better-than-league-worst rate, he can do enough damage to make him worth it.
But if he swings and misses more than anyone in baseball, he'll be tough to count on.
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