Jasson Dominguez is Clearly Not a Yankee Favorite
Jasson Dominguez is rated the number one prospect of the New York Yankees in 2025, as per MLB.com. This may come as news in the Bronx as management has a track record of treatment concerning The Martian that resembles that of the Yankees’ handling of Gleyber Torres. In other words, they couldn’t care less. Brian Cashman's latest comments about Jasson make one thing quite obvious. If you are not championed among the executives, you will never be a favorite as Anthony Volpe has been. You will also have a shorter rope before hanging.
Jasson, a native of Esperanza, Valerde in the Dominican Republic, is the son of a former major leaguer and at 22 is a five-tool talent who the Yankees paid a franchise high $5.1 million as a signing bonus in 2019. This is not money you give out for international signings unless you believe you are getting a special player. How can one forget the home run at Houston against Justin Verlander on his first major league pitch that gave us a glimpse of the promise that seemed unlimited? He was a rare light in the playoff-less season of 2023, smacking out four home runs in eight games. It makes one wonder when the Yankees' opinion of Jasson started to plummet. Jasson was on the verge of taking advantage of his crack in the glass ceiling when a freak injury stopped his progression cold, and it has yet to heat up since.
It is here that the narrative concerning Dominguez began to take a different bent. It gets reported that Jasson is injury prone. It was not until two years ago that he was presented with his first injury challenge. The torn ulnar collateral ligament resulted in Tommy John surgery. Tommy John, for a pitcher, takes two years to regain previous form. He came back in eight months. He was then hit with an oblique strain a month later. However, once back on the field, Jasson destroyed AAA with eleven home runs, 71 hits, and a .314 average. The Yankees did not take notice and were not even considering bringing him up even for the September call-ups. The Yankee excuse then was that they wanted to save him for 2024 so he could qualify for Rookie of the Year. When he finally did come up to the big club, due mostly to fan pressure, they practically forgot he existed, just as they did with another former top prospect, Oswald Peraza. Dominguez had an uneven distribution of playing time and patrolling the toughest field in left misplayed a couple balls. To add to the injury, Cashman gave as their reasoning for not playing Jasson was that Alex Verdugo gave them a better chance to win. Is that how you motivate a rookie to be great?
Now, with the left field open, the Yankees refuse to give him the golden ticket as they did with Anthony Volpe. But what Jasson did get was another quote of no-confidence from the Yankee GM. "There's a lane for him to take, I'd love for him to get that opportunity," Cashman said. "He's got the opportunity to take it, but he's going to have to earn it at the same time." According to the book of Brian, this can be translated as you are not to be trusted, and if you keep dropping fly balls, Trent Grisham will take over that position.
However, a narrative is running loose that he cannot play left field, or any field for that matter, due to the recent troubles playing left field, and that he should be a DH. This is the latest insult to a player who has played only thirty games in two seasons for the big club, hardly a sample size to make any assumptions. What it comes down to is that Jasson Dominguez is not a priority, and if he ends up sent back to the minors without a legitimate opportunity, it would be best to just trade him. The Yankees live in contradiction, and there is nothing to justify their veiled dislike of a player who they are afraid to commit to a decision one way or the other.
