The New York Yankees have one of the more fun prospects in baseball in Spencer Jones. The power-hitting center fielder has good defense and base-running ability. If he were a more consistent hitter, he might be in the Majors already.
But in 2025, Jones dealt with some struggles at the plate at times. And as Brendan Kuty of The Athletic shares, Jones and the Yankees’ scouts found an issue that needed fixing.
While it might seem strange, the fix was simple: have Jones swing like Shohei Ohtani. So far this spring, that simple change has been working.
Spencer Jones is emulating Shohei Ohtani, and it’s working
“The best guy with the toe-down swing is Ohtani,” Jones said. “So it was just kind of looking at some of the moves that he does, lined up with some of the things that I’m trying to do.”
Jones, at 6-foot-7, needed to find a way to get his front foot down. When he wasn’t getting it down, he was missing pitches in the strikezone. If he can get that foot down, he will be in a much better spot to make contact.
While it’s not been a large sample size, just five games and 10 at-bats this spring, Jones has shown a lot more promise than before.
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He has three hits, all of which are home runs. He also has four strikeouts, two walks, one stolen base, and six total RBIs.
His 1.200 slugging percentage will come down over the course of the spring, but it’s a testament to how great a power-hitter he is.
Jones made an adjustment this offseason, emulating his swing, and more specifically, his front foot, after Ohtani. And through the opening portion of the season, it’s been working.
