TAMPA, FL — Jasson Domínguez of the New York Yankees has had many ups and downs during his brief time in Major League Baseball over the last three years. The 23-year-old switch-hitting outfielder has shown strong numbers with the bat and made some improvements in left field with no errors during spring training.
“There’s a lot of better things going on today than there was in the beginning, the reads and routes in left field are more efficient,” Luis Rojas, the Yankees’ third base/outfield coach, told Latino Sports this week at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, Florida. “The key is him (Domínguez) gaining more experience in left field and we agreed that improving his defense is the biggest thing this spring.”
Luis Rojas has been working closely with Jasson Domínguez in spring training and has already noticed the progress he’s made along the way – Image Credit: Bill Menzel/Latino Sports
Domínguez, of Esperanza, Dominican Republic has always had to manage high expectations, since he was the top international signing and nicknamed “The Martian” at 16-years-old.
In 2023 against the Astros at Daikin Park, he hit a home run off Justin Verlander in his first career MLB at-bat with his family and loved ones in attendance then raced out of the gates hot with four home runs and 10 hits across his first 22 MLB at-bats.
This was short lived because Domínguez had to undergo Tommy John surgery at the end of the 2023 season, which cut his magical debut run short.
In 2024, Domínguez had to spend a lot of time rehabbing this injury and didn’t return to MLB action until August 18th. In his first MLB game, he had to face one of toughest pitchers in MLB, when the Detroit Tigers had left-hander Tarik Skubal making the start. Domínguez went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts and was sent back down the next day. He returned for 17 games in September, but his bat was far off from what it was in 2023.
Bottom line, he didn’t perform well enough to get any at-bats in the postseason while the Yankees made a run to the 2024 Fall Classic.
With a log jam in the outfield, Jasson Domínguez is keeping the same mindset week-by-week, which is trying to improve and help the Yankees win day-in and day-out – Image Credit: Bill Menzel/Latino Sports
Fast forward to 2025, and Domínguez had a chance to earn full playing time, but the emergence of Trent Grisham cost him a significant amount of time, with Aaron Judge, and Cody Bellinger rounding out the outfield. He then began to struggle on defense with the limited opportunities he was given and all of Domínguez’s mistakes were getting magnified in the bright lights of the Bronx.
Though with that said, he still had 10 home runs, 47 RBI, 23 stolen bases, and an OPS of .719 which is an OPS+ of 101 in 381 at-bats.
Dominguez did well enough to find himself on the official ballot of the prestigious 2025 LatinoMVP Awards, with his name among finalists for American League LatinoMVP Rookie of the Year.
He will face stiff competition from Red Sox catcher Carlos Narváez and Luis Morales of the Athletics, who were also named finalists of the 2025 AL LatinoMVP ROTY along with Domínguez.
In back to back seasons, the Yankees have produced a finalist of the American League LatinoMVP Rookie of the Year with Luis Gil winning in 2024 and Jasson Domínguez being one of three candidates for 2025 – Image Credit: Latino Sports
As we roll into the 2026 regular season, Domínguez—making his case this spring with three home runs, 10 RBIs, three stolen bases. a .325 batting average and an OPS of .978 in 40 at-bats this spring—is once again boxed out of a starting outfield spot and that was cemented with the signing of outfielder Randal Grichuk late last month.
His box score showed 0-for-2 against the Baltimore Orioles on Thursday, March 19th, but it didn’t show that one of the outs was an 107 MPH line drive off Yennier Canó to right field.
The Martian, getting sent down to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Friday as the Yankees made the announcement prior to their next game vs. the O’s, should stay patient because he will most likely be the first bat called up from the minors if there is a need for the Yankees at the pro-level.
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