Spencer Jones has all but officially confirmed Trent Grisham's Yankees exit

It was a healthy assumption that Trent Grisham wasn't going to be with the Yankees beyond the 2026 season, but Spencer Jones' emergence this year has pretty much made it a reality, leaving New York with a clear outfield picture for 2027 (if baseball happens).

Jones has resurrected his numbers after a slow start during his first stint at the MLB level. He's now hitting .233 with a .742 OPS and 106 OPS+. He's been a productive bat in the lineup and has impressed defensively at all three outfield spots.

But most importantly, Jones has been a catalyst when the Yankees have needed it most. He's hitting .308 with a 1.073 OPS with runners in scoring position, and .400 with a 1.055 OPS with two outs and RISP. In high-leverage situations, he's hitting .343 with a 1.080 OPS, which is a bigger sample size of 38 plate appearances.

Those numbers will likely regress, but the early returns show he's capable of rising to the occasion. Complain about the strikeouts all you want. They are part of Jones' game. They might decrease slightly, but you're probably looking at a 30% rate.

If that's his only major flaw, though, it'll be easy to live with the rest. He can handle major league pitching, boast defensive versatility, and out-run everybody on the team. This is a guy who probably should've been on the Opening Day roster, if we're being honest.

Spencer Jones will save the Yankees $22 million in 2027 when Trent Grisham leaves

Had the Yankees been confident enough to roll with Jones for the start of 2026, they could've reallocated the $22 million they paid Grisham via the qualifying offer. That's obviously a bit of revisionist history, but a lot of Yankees fans had their gripes with the decision to retain Grisham for that much money.

Grisham's been solid, but it wasn't until recently he picked things up to the degree of acceptability. His first half of 2026 was dreadful.

As for Jones, he was impressive over the last two spring trainings but it wasn't enough to give him a roster nod. And heading into this year one could argue he needed a bit more seasoning at Triple-A due to his strikeouts and prolonged slumps. That said, it's hard to believe an additional 50 games at Scranton really changed much here. He probably just needed to make the leap to MLB to let the chips fall where they may.

So far, so good. He's not lighting the world on fire, but that's not needed right now. Quite frankly, everybody needs to stop expecting that out of top prospects anyway. Only a small percentage step foot in MLB and are immediately comfortable. The overwhelming majority need time to acclimate.

Jones, with the help of Aaron Judge's personal hitting coach, is slowly but surely becoming a real player. He's on track to be an everyday starter come next year if he continues on this path. And at this point, he deserves a postseason roster spot if he manages to keep the Yankees in the AL East conversation through the end of the year.

With his emergence alongside the presence of Judge and Cody Bellinger, this makes Grisham's departure much more likely and palatable.

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