CLEVELAND — Spencer Jones had been waiting for this, and when it finally came, it arrived with the kind of force that turns heads across a Yankees clubhouse. His first major league home run was no cheap shot down the line. It was a towering blast that traveled so far and so fast that even his teammates did a double take, and it stamped his name into rare company in franchise history.
On a Tuesday night in Cleveland, the young outfielder did more than help the Yankees win. He announced himself, and the names he joined in the record book tell the story.
A no-doubt blast in Cleveland
The moment came in the second inning of the Yankees’ 3-2 win over the Guardians. With a runner aboard, Jones turned on a middle-of-the-plate cutter from Cleveland starter Slade Cecconi and crushed it for a two-run homer that gave New York an early lead.
There was no doubt off the bat, and the Yankees dugout knew it instantly. The ball left at 112.2 mph and sailed 443 feet before landing among the trees and shrubs that decorate the batter’s eye at Progressive Field. The landing spot made the souvenir easy to recover, sparing Jones and the Yankees any negotiation with fans. He explained that simply unloading his real swing was the most satisfying part.
“It felt good to get a good barrel and get my swing off the way that I know I can,” Jones said. “Fun getting the first one out of the way. The proverbial monkey’s off the back, so we’re ready to go.”
Teammates thought it was Judge
Here is what made the homer so striking. The sheer violence of the swing fooled the people who know power best. Jazz Chisholm Jr., who was on base and scored on the blast, could hardly believe what he saw.
To Chisholm, the ball came off the bat like it had been struck by the Yankees’ captain himself. The comparison was the ultimate compliment.
“That was sick,” Chisholm said. “Being on base, I thought it was Aaron Judge hitting when he hit that ball. It blasted off the bat, I’m not gonna lie.”
Manager Aaron Boone was just as impressed, noting that the kind of contact Jones makes carries a sound and a trajectory all its own.
“That’s a line drive to center for most people,” Boone said. “And the thing is, he hits it, and you kind of know where it’s going just because you know of his power.”
Joining Jeter and Judge in the book
The blast did more than impress. It placed Jones alongside Yankees legends in two distinct ways. First, he became just the fourth Yankee since 1995 to hit his first career home run against Cleveland, joining a list that begins with Derek Jeter, who did it on April 2, 1996. Melky Cabrera in 2006 and Gleyber Torres in 2018 are the others.
The second link is about raw power, and it ties him to the face of the Yankees. In the Statcast era, Jones’s 443-foot homer is the second-longest first career home run ever hit by a Yankee. The only one longer belongs to Aaron Judge, whose first big league blast in 2016 went 446 feet. Jones now sits ahead of names like Greg Bird and Chris Gittens on that list. For a player whose calling card has always been his light-tower power, debuting on the home run leaderboard between Jeter and Judge is a fitting introduction.
A prospect rounding into form
The homer capped an encouraging stretch that has the Yankees feeling better about their decision to keep running Jones out there. Recalled when Judge landed on the injured list, the 25-year-old struggled in his first taste of the majors earlier this season, flashing the strikeout and contact concerns that have long tempered his prospect hype.
This time has been different. Jones went 2-for-4 on Tuesday to raise his average to .278 with a .722 OPS, and he is now 7-for-10 since his latest call-up after a 3-for-3 return on June 5. Boone has liked what he has seen, even with a roster crunch looming as Jasson Dominguez nears a return from his own rehab assignment.
“Good to see him put together some good at-bats here these last several,” Boone said.
A timely lift with Judge sidelined
The timing of Jones’s emergence could hardly be better for the Yankees. With Judge out and the lineup searching for production, the rookie’s power gives the team a genuine reason for optimism. He was not the only one to go deep Tuesday, as Chisholm broke a 2-2 tie with an eighth-inning solo shot using Judge’s bat after hearing overrated chants from Guardians fans.
The Yankees needed every bit of it, getting a five-out save from Fernando Cruz to close out the 3-2 victory and improve to 40-26. They will go for a series sweep Wednesday afternoon in the finale at Cleveland before traveling to Toronto for a weekend set against the Blue Jays. For now, though, the buzz belongs to Jones, whose first home run did not just clear the wall. It put him in a conversation with two of the most revered names the Yankees have ever produced, and hinted that the wait for his power may finally be over.
What do you think? Leave your comment below.
