Spencer Jones lasted 10 games before the New York Yankees sent him back to Triple-A. Not because he failed, but because Aaron Boone chose to keep Anthony Volpe.

“He’s optioned back to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre along with pitcher Yovanny Cruz to make room for ace Gerrit Cole, and most likely shortstop Jose Caballero,” Bob Nightengale reported via his X handle. 

Gerrit Cole suffered a UCL tear in October 2024, which forced him to undergo a Tommy John. He has finally returned to the lineup after 14 months. José Caballero fractured his middle finger on May 10, but he is back on the roster as well. Trent Grisham was day-to-day for his knee inflammation. On Friday, he was active, too. That narrowed the opportunities for some players, and the Yankees decided to send Jones back to the minors. 

A shoulder surgery to repair a partially torn left labrum made Anthony Volpe miss spring training and the first month of the regular season this year. He played 20 minor league games on his rehab assignment, but New York decided to keep him in Triple-A for longer. They called him up on May 10 when Caballero was placed on the IL. 

During that time, the Yankees were juggling several spots as multiple players were injured.

Jasson Domínguez was one of them. He suffered a shoulder injury and opened up a spot for Jones. 

He joined the active roster on May 9 and played 10 games before the Yankees chose to send him back. Jones went 4-for-24, but that was not the key reason for his demotion.

Manager Aaron Boone chose to keep Volpe on the active roster. And to clear up spots, Jones and Cruz faced the axe. This perfectly fits the Yankees’ history of intense loyalty to Volpe.

The team let him struggle at the plate through 2023 and 2024 without ever sending him down. Even in 2025, the skipper saw him as the team’s future shortstop. Now, Boone’s trust in his former Gold Glove winner’s defense outweighs Jones’s power potential off the bench.

Interestingly, Volpe hasn’t had much luck with the bat either.

He went 5-for-23 in eight games while Caballero was injured. And Boone admitted that Caballero is still the unquestioned starter.

“He’s also played at a level that, to me, he has earned the right to be out there at shortstop more often,” Boone noted.

“I think the first [41] games he played in the season, he was playing the best shortstop in the league and doing a lot of things to spark us offensively, too. It’s important to acknowledge that. But there’s no question that his versatility is a real asset, too.”

Yet in Friday’s game, Caballero’s costly error allowed the Tampa Bay Rays a 4-run lead. In the top of the eighth inning, Chandler Simpson’s one-hopper bounced off the shortstop’s glove, and the Yanks couldn’t recover from that boot.

Plus, Caballero’s return made Volpe a bench piece, at least for Friday. But now, it seems Boone always had a plan in place.

“Second base, I’m not too worried about,” the skipper shared on Friday.

Reportedly, Anthony Volpe will start practicing at 2B, where his experience has been limited. He played the position only as a minor leaguer in 2021 at Class A Tampa and High-A Hudson Valley (one game each). He logged 18 innings at the position, nine at Single-A and nine at High-A. Then, in 2023, Volpe played some second base in spring training, when he and Oswald Peraza were competing for the Yankees’ starting shortstop job.

But Volpe is ready to do it for the team.

“I’m ready to go. Whatever the team needs.”

Yet, this doesn’t mean he is completely out of the SS scene, as Boone noted, “On the days he’s playing shortstop, I may move Cabby around.”

Caballero has played the outfield, along with second and third base.

This technically makes Spencer Jones the odd man out. The 25-year-old could not convince Bronx of a longer tenure. But it doesn’t necessarily mean that the franchise is overlooking one of its top prospects. 

The Yankees still believe that Spencer Jones can become special

Jones earned the “phenom” label for a reason.

Standing at 6-foot-6, he possesses a rare mix of elite outfield speed and raw power that constantly draws comparisons to a young Aaron Judge. He hit 35 home runs in 2025 in the minors and recorded 11 more this season before his call-up. His exit velocity averaged at 95.5 mph and peaked at 96.4 mph.

That’s what made him eligible for a major league spot. But Spencer Jones had some concerns, too. 

During his combined tenure in Double-A and Triple-A, he had 179 strikeouts in 438 at-bats. And this issue persisted even after his promotion.

He was struck out 12 times in 24 at-bats. His overall numbers were significantly low with a .167 AVG and .426 OPS. 

True, 24 at-bats are too few to judge a prospect. But some debate that with such a high strikeout rate, he might not have gotten a call-up in the first place had the Yankees not been going through so many injuries. That argument is also valid given a 45.8% strikeout rate. 

Although he did manage 3 walks, 2 RBIs, and 1 stolen base, Jones failed to add an extra base or a homer to his MLB stats. 

But the Yankees aren’t offloading him. They are just sending him to improve his contact. And the fact that the franchise gave him a chance despite the poor strikeout rates should offer enough positives for the young player. 

“It was a good experience for Spencer, even though he didn’t get a lot of results. I actually feel like he held his own pretty well,” said Aaron Boone of his young star.

To put matters a little more into perspective, Judge used to struck out in nearly half his at-bats as a rookie. But now, he’s one of the best hitters in the league; let’s ignore the slump for a while. And now that Spencer Jones is back in the minors to work on his swing-and-miss without the pressure of the big leagues, we will probably see the star being born in the next call-up.