Few prospects in baseball history have faced the kind of expectations that welcomed Jasson Domínguez to professional baseball, immediately compared with the likes of Mickey Mantle upon signing with the Yankees as a teenager out of the Dominican Republic in 2019.
Given the amount on his shoulders and given the journey, on the field and off, required to climb the minor league ladder, he probably did not need more to worry about each July (or in this case, August).
So for a former top prospect who has been a part of rumors at this time of the year virtually every season of his career, ignorance about the trade deadline’s sheer existence worked out well. Of course he had heard people talk about the annual date on which the Yankees just about always push out prospects and bring in major league help, but he didn’t ask many questions.
“I probably learned last year there was a deadline,” Domínguez said with a smile Monday. “I really didn’t even know what it was about, to be honest with you.”
He knows about the deadline this year and says he successfully has avoided the chatter. But he is aware the possibility exists he could be moved.
There probably will be smaller-market teams that envision Domínguez taking off and living up to his potential away from New York, where every at-bat and every fly ball has been and will be scrutinized.
But no, Domínguez hopes he goes nowhere.
“I love it here,” Domínguez said before beginning a series with the Pirates in The Bronx. “I signed here when I was 16, and I know everybody. I know a lot of people, a lot of people that I care about in the organization. There are definitely a lot of good people here.”
The Yankees, whose need for offensive help has only grown with a collectively slumping offense and no clarity about return dates for Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton, will have to weigh what Domínguez brings and what he could bring back.
Now 23 and in his fourth season, “The Martian” has been roughly an average offensive player, a confounding defensive player and a remarkable athlete through his first 188 major league games.
He debuted with excellence and excitement in Houston, then almost immediately required Tommy John surgery. He returned in 2024 but did not play well enough to grab an outfield job from Alex Verdugo. He has shuffled between the minors and majors the past two seasons and has shown glimpses — the bat speed, leg speed, arm strength and pop are there, and the switch-hitter has made strides from the right side — but lacks a stretch of prolonged brilliance that might have convinced the Yankees that his future is too enticing to risk.
This season, Domínguez impressed many in the organization by handling a difficult situation with maturity — he swung well in spring but had no route to an Opening Day spot if the club stayed healthy, which it did — and his time arrived again when Giancarlo Stanton went down in late April.
Nine games later, Domínguez made a remarkable catch while slamming into the left field wall and sidelined himself into mid-June. Given a good run as mostly a right fielder for a team that has been desperate for a spark, he has not been the answer and entered play slashing .237/.269/.404 in 30 games since returning.
“This year has been a couple of injuries, up and down, like baseball is,” said Domínguez, who has chased out of the strike zone more often this season, which might be his biggest area in which he needs to improve, “but I would say just trying to get better every day and trying to make it count.”
Neither Domínguez nor Spencer Jones has fully established himself at this level, and both are young and figure to have value for selling clubs that eye upside.
It is possible that Domínguez, whose tools remain obvious and special, fronts a prospect-heavy deal for an established catcher (or perhaps reliever or shortstop).
Domínguez has never run from the expectations.
“I would love to have a career like Mickey Mantle. Who doesn’t?” he said. “But I think I do a pretty good job of not letting that affect me, just using it as motivation to be that player.”
And he is not running from the New York spotlight, either, not eager for what would be an unceremonious end with the only organization he has known.
“I love it,” Domínguez said of the Yankees. “I love the fans. I love the energy. I love everything here.”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
