Daily Report – 5/8/26
Yankees
It’s official! Spencer Jones is coming up. The highly touted 6’7, 240-pound, 24-year-old, left-handed-hitting outfielder, has finally done enough to convince the Yankees that he deserves a spot on their Major League roster.
Yesterday, while making a catch in left-center field for the game’s first out, Jasson Domínguez crashed into the digital scoreboard. The catch was impressive, but Domínguez sprained his left shoulder, likely sidelining him for several weeks. That created an opening in the Yankees’ outfield, and the front office selected Jones to fill that void.
Jones has often been compared to Aaron Judge because of his size, strength, and defensive skills. During his early years in the Yankees’ farm system, he used a leg-kick swing that looked identical to Judge’s batting stance, but from the opposite side of the plate.
The young outfielder is a terrific talent, and he can hit baseballs with similar distance and speed to Judge and Giancarlo Stanton. However, his high strikeout rate, which hovered around 35% last season, has slowed his progression through the Yankees’ system. This season, only 14 qualified Triple-A hitters have a higher strikeout rate than Jones.
Per Fangraphs, Jones’s strikeout rate has shifted wildly since 2022 as he has grown in the farm system and tweaked his swing:
2022: 18.9% in Single-A
2023: 28.9% in High-A and Double-A
2024: 36.8% in Double-A
2025: 35.4% in Double-A and Triple-A
2026: 32.4% in Triple-A
This Spring Training, Jones presented a new swing that mimicked Shohei Ohtani’s. Jones replaced the leg kick with a toe tap to help him hit the ball more consistently. Although his strikeout rate is similar to that of prior seasons, Jones has six home runs and 15 RBI in his last 10 games, and his 41 RBI this season lead all Triple-A players.
The good news is that the Yankees are in excellent shape, standings-wise, and have the privilege of calling up a top prospect during a winning stretch. At 26-12, they are the best team in the American League, which features just four teams above .500, two of which are one game above even.
Yesterday, coming off a rare rough start by Will Warren and a quiet scoring night against Nathan Eovaldi, the Yankees used a 12:35 first-pitch time to turn things back in their favor. Ryan Weathers was scratched from his start due to a stomach illness that caused him to lose nine pounds in two days, so Paul Blackburn subbed in.
In addition to injuries to Stanton and Ben Rice, the Yankees were without Ryan McMahon, José Caballero, and Austin Wells in their starting lineup. McMahon entered the game after Domínguez’s injury, which led to several outfield defensive changes, including Amed Rosario moving to right field.
Ultimately, slotting McMahon in worked wonders as he was one of the Yankees’ best offensive players, finishing 2-for-3 with a double, an RBI, and two walks. But Trent Grisham was the offensive star, hitting 3-for-5 with a three-run sixth-inning double that helped the Yankees overcome a 2-1 deficit. They won the ballgame 9-2.
Grisham, manager Aaron Boone’s preferred leadoff hitter against right-handed starters, hasn’t displayed strong numbers after a 34-homer season that earned him the qualifying offer. This year, he is hitting .182 with five home runs and a .372 slugging percentage in 37 games.
However, those metrics don’t tell the whole story because Grisham’s expected batting average is .235. Only five MLB players have larger gaps between their expected and actual batting averages. Also, his expected slug rate is .467, and he has reached base at a 30.8% clip.
“He has had the worst luck,” McMahon said of Grisham. “The guy is squaring up the ball. He’s super steady, though. He comes to the ballpark every single day with a good attitude and just knows that’s part of the game. It’s obviously good to see him find some grass.”
Like McMahon, who is hitting .223 on the season but is 9-for-22 (.409) in his last seven games, Grisham has worked hard for months making small adjustments to his swing. He has maintained a steady approach at the plate, which is good because, according to Baseball Savant, he ranks in the 100th percentile of hitters who square up the ball and in the 93rd percentile in hard-hit rate, the best of his career.
Grisham’s big at-bat came with the bases loaded in the sixth inning, and he smoked a sinker to the left-center field fence, clearing the bases. “I think that Grish at-bat’s the at-bat of the game,” Boone said. The Yankees brought 11 batters to the plate in the sixth inning, and six of them came home to score.
On the mound, Blackburn started the game for the Yankees but only pitched one inning. In his Big League debut, the righty Brendan Beck took the bulkiest load, permitting two runs on two hits over three innings. He gave up three walks but kept the Yankees in the game.
“It’s a dream come true,” Beck said. The 27-year-old California native had at least 20 family members and friends in attendance for his debut. “You always want it to happen and think it’s going to happen, but it actually does — it’s still a dream, but now it’s something I’ve done. I can picture that moment, being out there on the field with the guys.”
After their big sixth inning, the Yankees added more insurance runs in the seventh and eighth. In the seventh inning, after McMahon and Jazz Chisholm Jr. got caught in a strike-him-out-throw-him-out double play, Grisham singled, stole second base, and scored on Max Schuemann’s first hit as a Yankee.
In the eighth inning, Cody Bellinger, who finished 3-for-4 with a walk and two RBI, singled and scored on McMahon’s second hit of the afternoon. In this seven-game homestand, which the Yankees finished 6-1, Bellinger scorched 14-for-26 (.538) at the dish with six doubles, two triples, two home runs, and 13 RBI.
The Yankees hope to continue winning on the road with three games in Milwaukee this weekend, including Carlos Rodón’s season debut on Sunday, and three more in Baltimore before the first leg of the Subway Series begins next weekend.
Tonight, at 7:40 PM, LHP Max Fried (4-1, 2.39 ERA) will toe the slab against the rookie phenom RHP Jacob Misiorowski (2-2, 2.84 ERA).
Tomorrow, at 7:10 PM, RHP Cam Schlittler (5-1, 1.52 ERA), the Yankees’ rookie sensation, will start against the southpaw Kyle Harrison (3-1, 2.12 ERA).
And on Sunday, at 2:10 PM, LHP Carlos Rodón will make his season debut against RHP Logan Henderson (0-1, 4.50 ERA).
Yankees Transactions (5/8):
NYY optioned RHP Brendan Beck to AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders
NYY placed LF Jasson Domínguez (left shoulder AC joint sprain) on the 10-day injured list
NYY recalled RHP Kervin Castro from AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders
NYY recalled CF Spencer Jones from AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders
Schedule
Tonight 5/8:
7:00 PM: 2026 NBA Playoffs Round 2, Game 3 – NYK (2-0) at PHI (0-2); Prime Video
7:40 PM: NYY at MIL; YES, Gotham Sports; SP: LHP Max Fried (4-1, 2.39 ERA) vs. RHP Jacob Misiorowski (2-2, 2.84 ERA)
Saturday 5/9:
7:10 PM: NYY at MIL; YES, Gotham Sports; SP: RHP Cam Schlittler (5-1, 1.52 ERA) vs. LHP Kyle Harrison (3-1, 2.12 ERA)
Sunday 5/10:
2:10 PM: NYY at MIL; YES, Gotham Sports; SP: LHP Carlos Rodón (0-0, -.-- ERA) vs. RHP Logan Henderson (0-1, 4.50 ERA)
3:30 PM: 2026 NBA Playoffs Round 2, Game 4 – NYK (TBA) at PHI (TBA); ABC, ESPN App
Cover Image Courtesy: New York Yankees
