BOSTON — Spencer Jones was drafted by the Yankees in the first round of the 2019 amateur draft out of Vanderbilt.
His history with the franchise goes back to when he played with the organization’s scout team near his Southern California home when he was 16.
That’s when longtime area scout Dave Keith found the already tall Jones and asked his high school coach and family to wear the pinstripes for the first time.
“It was fun,’’ Jones said Friday at Fenway Park before going 1-for-3 in the Yankees’ 6-1 loss to the Red Sox at Fenway Park. “I was really tall and not filled out at all, but it was the first time I put the uniform on and it was really my first experience playing against older players.”
And he also credited Keith for giving him some valuable advice.
“He loved me as a hitter more than anything,’’ said Jones, who came up as a two-way hitter, impressing many scouts as a hard-throwing lefty on the mound.
“It’s cool looking back at it. Everyone wanted me as a pitcher. He said to keep a bat in my hands. It worked out.”
Keith was at Fenway on Thursday watching his old player and was pleased to see him still with a bat in his hands.
“He’s a big guy and left-handed, so keep it simple,’’ Keith said of his thought process at the time. “Let him hit. Plus, he always wanted to be on the field. He always wanted to play.”
Tommy John surgery in college helped Jones become a full-time outfielder and on Friday, he got a start against Boston lefty Payton Tolle.
Even though the Yankees didn’t draft Jones out of La Costa Canyon HS in Carlsbad, Calif. — the Dodgers did in the 31st round before Jones opted to go to Vanderbilt — the relationship with the Bombers eventually paid dividends.
Jones has looked much better at the plate in his second stint in the majors after appearing overmatched when he initially came up from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
Jones and Keith — who scouted Gerrit Cole in high school when the Yankees drafted him before he went to UCLA — continue to have a strong relationship, built nearly a decade ago.
“We had the top players from the area out there, going against other teams,’’ said Keith, who likened Jones to another Southern California player Keith watched nearly 10 years earlier in Freddie Freeman.
To Keith, they were both lanky players in their youth who became powerful hitters from the left side.
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“They could both hit, hit for power and were athletic,’’ Keith said. “But they were so gangly, but in control of their swings.”
And they looked most at home in the batters box.
“Spencer is so athletic, so he’s able to make the adjustments he needs to in order to get better,’’ Keith said. “Like Freddie, he got in the box and his athleticism tripled. It’s great to see him kind of come into his own here.”’
Ultimately, it came full circle with the Yankees.
“It’s funny,’’ Jones said. “All signs kind of led me to get here.”
