HOUSTON — When Jasson Dominguez participated in NJ.com’s spring training “Yankees picks” feature, he listed Houston as his favorite road city.
That’s where Dominguez debuted in the majors on Sept. 1, 2023, and immediately lived up to his No. 1 prospect hype by hitting a first-inning homer off future Hall of Famer Justin Verlander.
Dominguez was in Moosic, Pa., batted second and played left field on Friday night for the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, hitting behind rehabbing Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe.
“I’m sure it’s not easy for Jasson, but I think we’ll see him at some point here,” Yankees infielder and fellow Dominican Amed Rosario predicted before the Yankees’ 12-4 win.
Designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton departed Friday night’s game with right calf tightness. If he ends up on the 15-day injured list, Dominguez would be a candidate to fill the roster spot.
Regardless, the Yankees have been monitoring Dominguez, who is back in Triple-A after playing a first full season in the majors last year.
They all know he’s been raking. They’ve heard he’s been working hard and playing hard with absolutely no pouting, too.
“We phone, we text,” said Luis Rojas, Yankees third base coach and outfield instructor. “I want to see how he’s doing. I know what he’s doing on the field because I talk to the Triple-A coaches. I don’t need him to tell me what he’s working on.
“It’s more personal. I want to know how he’s doing. He’d rather be here with us, but his attitude is good.
“He’s 23. I thought of myself when I was 23. How would I have handled it? Jasson’s been a lot more mature than I would have been at that age.”
Dominguez’s stats are good, too. Including an 0-for-4 night in Scranton’s 4-3 win over Rochester on Friday, he’s hitting .306 with three homers, 13 RBIs and an .875 OPS in 22 games. He’s had a good week doubling twice and homering on Monday, delivering an 11th-inning walk-off single on Thursday.
“I know Jasson is off to a great start down there,” left fielder Cody Bellinger said. “He’s a great player, man. I think he’s playing how he expects to play.”
“I hit him up on Instagram here and there,” he said. “I have nothing but positive things to say about Jasson. I love who he is and I love the player he is. He’s very mature. At his age, he has a pretty good understanding of who he is as a player.
“Obviously, you can only control what you can control, and he does a really good job of that. Going back to the minors after being here all last year, it’s not easy at all. For him to go down and continue to play his best brand of baseball, it’s a testament of who he is. We all knew that’s the type of player he is.”
Bellinger’s decision to re-sign with the Yankees in January sealed Dominguez’s fate.
The Yankees went with Aaron Judge in right, Trent Grisham in center and Bellinger in left late last season and in the playoffs, and that’s how they opted to start the season.
Like Rojas, Rosario has been reaching out to Dominguez to make sure his mindset is good.
“We texted about a week ago,” Rosario said. “When I talk with Jasson, we’re not talking about baseball. We talk about life. From keeping in touch with him, I think he’s in a good place.”
Dominguez put up solid offensive numbers last season — he hit .257 with 10 homers, 47 RBIs and 23 steals in 123 games, 102 as a starter — but the switch-hitter batted only .204 from the right side and his defense, while showing some improvement, remained subpar.
The Yankees ended up deciding Dominguez would be better off getting regular at-bats in the minors than playing sparingly as a fourth outfielder. Besides, they preferred starting the season with veteran outfielder Randal Grichuk, a right-handed bat who hits lefties well, on their bench.