Spencer Jones is about to get his first taste of big-league camp.
Jones, right-handers Chase Hampton and Will Warren and catcher Ben Rice are among the Yankees’ top prospects who received non-roster invites to major league spring training, which is set to begin in Tampa next week.
In all, the Yankees extended invites to 26 players who are not members of their 40-man roster.
The biggest name, both in size and stature, is the 22-year-old Jones, a left-handed hitting outfielder who drew comparisons to Aaron Judge when the Yankees drafted the 6-foot-6 slugger with their first-round pick in 2022.
The Vanderbilt product, ranked the Yankees’ No. 2 prospect by Baseball America (behind Jasson Dominguez), finished last season at Double-A and will now get a chance to be around Judge and other big-leaguers this spring.
Warren and Hampton will be worth watching because they are currently the organization’s top pitching prospects at the upper levels of the minors.
With the Yankees set to enter camp with a rotation that has its fair share of health concerns, Warren (and eventually Hampton) could be among the first call-ups in the event of injuries.
Warren, a 24-year-old ranked as the club’s No. 9 prospect per Baseball America, put together a big season in 2023. He posted a 2.45 ERA in six starts at Double-A Somerset before recording a 3.61 ERA with 110 strikeouts in 21 outings (99 ²/₃ innings) at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
Hampton, a 22-year-old ranked as the club’s No. 6 prospect by Baseball America (and No. 72 in the sport), impressed in his first year of pro ball in 2023.
Splitting the year between High-A Hudson Valley and Double-A Somerset, he combined for a 3.63 ERA with 145 strikeouts in 106 ²/₃ innings.
Rice, meanwhile, put together a breakout season in 2023 across three levels. The left-handed hitter, 24, finished the year at Double-A, where he hit .327 with 16 home runs and a 1.049 OPS in 48 games. He was recently ranked as the Yankees’ No. 12 prospect by Baseball America.
Other minor leaguers already in the Yankees organization that received major league spring training invites were C Josh Breaux, INF Jeter Downs, INF Caleb Durbin, OF Oscar González, OF Brandon Lockridge and INF T.J. Rumfield.
OF Greg Allen, LHP Anthony Misiewicz and LHP Tanner Tully also re-signed with the Yankees on minor league deals with big league invites.
Reliever Yerry de los Santos, a sinker-baller who previously pitched for the Pirates, and hard-throwing reliever Nick Burdi are two of the more intriguing non-roster invitees who signed minor league contracts with the Yankees for 2024.
The others are C J.C. Escarra, OF Luis González, LHP Oddanier Mosqueda, INF/OF Jose Rojas, RHP Dennis Santana, INF Kevin Smith, C Luis Torrens, RHP Duane Underwood Jr. and INF Josh VanMeter.
RHP Joey Gerber and RHP Art Warren will also be in big-league camp after signing multiyear minor league deals with the Yankees in 2022 while rehabbing elbow surgeries.
