How Spencer Jones caught up with fastballs and turned around his Yankees trajectory
Ahead in the count, 1-2, on Monday night, Walbert Ureña attempted to put Spencer Jones away in the same fashion as plenty of pitchers in Jones’ first few tries in the majors: with heat.
The Angels flamethrower reached back, cranked a 98.8-mph missile across the plate, and watched the Yankees rookie demolish it even harder (105.1 mph) the other way, tattooing the four-seamer nearly 400 feet to right-center for a home run that became the only run the Yankees managed in their series-opening loss.
The run did not matter. The swing, against such a pitch, might.
Because Jones — who has survived several potential cut-down days already and can see another potential one approaching — is fixing one of the holes in his swing he flashed earlier in the season.