May 8, 2026; Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA; New York Yankees designated hitter Spencer Jones (78) during batting practice before the game against the Milwaukee Brewers at American Family Field. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images
One of the New York Yankees’ top prospects, outfielder Spencer Jones, made his highly anticipated major league debut on Friday. And the Milwaukee Brewers’ hard-throwing pitcher Jacob Misiorowski made sure it was an MLB debut that the young slugger likely won’t ever forget.
Jones, New York’s No. 6 prospect for 2026 on MLB Pipeline, was the designated hitter and slotted into the sixth spot in the Yankees’ lineup for his first big league game. The 24-year-old went 0-for-2 with a walk and two strikeouts in New York’s 6-0 loss to the Brewers on Friday. The Yankees only had three hits as a team, though, largely due to an electric pitching performance by Misiorowski, who threw six shutout innings with 11 strikeouts.
After the game, Jones gave an honest yet slightly comical evaluation of facing Milwaukee’s 24-year-old hurler and his triple-digit fastball that got up to 103.6 mph on the radar gun. “I’ve never seen pitches that hard in my life,” Jones said, according to MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy. “To foul off a couple is pretty great, so I’ll take that for now.”
Spencer Jones had his ‘welcome to the big leagues’ moment
Facing Misiorowski was obviously a tough task for everyone on the Yankees this time around. The Milwaukee flamethrower only allowed two hits and two walks on Friday, and Jones had one of those free passes, so that’s at least a minor positive from his MLB debut. But the top prospect will likely look forward to his next opportunity to face any other major league pitcher who isn’t regularly throwing over 100 mph.
The lefty-swinging slugger has been tearing the cover off the ball in Triple-A so far this year. In 33 games for the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders in 2026, Jones has a .258 batting average with 11 home runs, 41 RBIs, and seven stolen bases. That offensive production was a big reason why the 2022 first-round draft pick was promoted to the majors after outfielder Jasson DomÃnguez hit the injured list with a left shoulder AC joint sprain.
The Yankees are set to face Milwaukee left-handed pitcher Kyle Harrison on Saturday, so it’s unclear if Jones will be in the starting lineup against the southpaw. But still, the 6-foot-7 outfielder is expected to get plenty of at-bats in the big leagues right now, and not all of them will be as difficult as his first battle with Misiorowski.
