TAMPA, Fla. -- Spencer Jones has been searching for a swing he can repeat, one that allows the towering Yankees outfield prospect to find consistency without losing his thunder.
His latest inspiration comes from one of baseball’s brightest stars: the Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani.
“He’s a great reference of a really good mover with a great swing,” Jones said. “He’s one of those guys that I look at with some of the stuff he does, and I try to apply it in whichever way I can.”
Jones hit a long home run in his first Grapefruit League at-bat of the year on Saturday, connecting off the Tigers’ Keider Montero in the Yankees’ 20-3 victory at George M. Steinbrenner Field.
The 24-year-old Jones said he spent a lot of his offseason “trying to get some good feels with the hands and get those going as a trigger,” a quality Ohtani has mastered.
The tweaks have caught the attention of Yankees captain Aaron Judge, who offered a positive review after Jones rounded the bases.
“The minute he puts that foot down with that little toe-tap, he’s ready to hit,” Judge said. “They might have gotten him with a lot of high heaters in the past, or even last season. I think that’s just going to help him.
“He doesn’t have a big leg kick and doesn’t have to worry about trying to get that down. I liked the results I saw in that first at-bat. That quickness, that readiness, it’s really going to be a game-changer for him.”
Replicating Ohtani’s production is, to put it mildly, a high bar.
The National League’s reigning Most Valuable Player and a four-time MVP, Ohtani batted .282/.392/.622 with 55 home runs, 102 RBIs and 20 stolen bases in 2025 as he helped lead Los Angeles to back-to-back World Series championships.
Still working toward his first big league at-bat, Jones belted 35 homers in the Minors last season, splitting time between Double-A Somerset and Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. He finished 2025 as the Yankees’ No. 4 prospect, according to MLB Pipeline.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone said Jones has been “searching for it a little bit mechanically” early in camp, but Saturday offered a reminder of what it can look like when all the pieces click.
“The homer, the swing he put on that ball looked like it was probably belt-high, top-of-the-zone, mid-90s pitch,” Boone said. “It was really a clean move at it, and obviously a no-doubter.”
Jones’ homer carried over the right-field pavilion, leaving the footprint of Steinbrenner Field entirely. If you’re going to borrow a swing, you might as well study one of the best.
“The way they move, he’s trying to have one complete move with it,” Boone said. “Obviously, the size is very similar. So hopefully he can copy that well.”