Scout's incredible take on Spencer Jones shows his ceiling is the roof for Yankees

Hudson Valley Renegades outfielder Spencer Jones during media day on April 5, 2023.

Renegades Media
Hudson Valley Renegades outfielder Spencer Jones during media day on April 5, 2023. Renegades Media | Patrick Oehler/Poughkeepsie Journal /

An anonymous scout lavishing praise on a Yankees prospect rather than digging their grave? That must mean they're not talking about Jasson Dominguez!

If that's your hunch, it's been proven accurate, as it's 2022 first-round pick Spencer Jones who caught the eye of the scout who spoke with The Athletic this week.

Jones' ascent began this offseason, when Baseball Prospectus decided to be first to the party and place him at No. 57 on their Top 101 Prospects list after just 25 professional games. While Baseball America wasn't quite ready to follow suit, they did place Jones on their list of 10 prospects who might be next to crack the Top 100 if they proved themselves in 2023.

Judging by the way Jones is acquitting himself so far, as well as the eyes he's opening, it seems like a pretty safe bet that he'll make good on that prediction.

The scout who spoke with The Athletic's Zach Buchanan this week called Jones the Yankees' "best prospect and it’s not even close," accounting for players already in MLB. In other words, Dominguez might be the bigger name, but Jones' tools are so far off the charts that this scout needed a breather and a massage.

Yankees top prospect Spencer Jones broke anonymous scout's brain

As our anonymous friend put it:

"The tools are so big, you have to get out of the way for a year and be like, 'This is not normal. This looks really good and could be really good.' The ceiling there is through the roof. "
Anonymous Scout

Now, is there bust potential? Of course; Jones' long swing results in a good deal of swing and miss, and the scout allowed us to "revisit" his take if the right fielder is repeating Double-A with a 40% K rate in 2025 (how kind of the scout).

However, the positives seem to firmly outweigh the negatives here. According to our insider, the once-in-a-lifetime Jones "moves better" and has "louder tools" than Aaron Judge.

Do with all of this information what you will, but pair these glowing reports with the highlights of Jones effortlessly powering home runs the other way and legging out repeatable triples, and it's easy to get a little starry-eyed (and Dominguez isn't half bad, either!).

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