From Chipotle to Yankee Stadium, what a year for Spencer Jones
Yankees rightfielder Spencer Jones. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
On the eve of his first Yankees-Red Sox October showdown, Spencer Jones was asked where he was a year ago when the two teams clashed in the Wild Card Series.
“I was driving home from Scranton,” Jones said Monday, referring to the Yankees’ Triple-A outpost. “I was watching it on my iPad, my girlfriend and I, and we watched Cam pitch Game 3. So that was my experience in the postseason last year.”
Jones quickly pointed out that both he and his girlfriend were taking turns driving, so whoever was behind the wheel had their eyes primarily on the road.
“I remember we stopped at Chipotle and watched a couple of innings,” Jones said.
Jones wrapped up a solid rookie season, hitting .245 with 11 homers, 40 RBIs and a .742 OPS in 86 games. Perhaps most impressive, Jones showed that he wasn’t just a platoon player, batting .389 (21-for-54) with a 1.107 OPS against lefthanders.
“I think it comes down to the work that we’ve done behind the scenes in the cages,” Jones said. “The stuff that we talk about in meetings, conversations I have with other hitters. We have a lot of really good lefthanded hitters on this team and they’ve been able to help me refine my approach - just kind of go up there and be confident in what I got to do.”
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
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