Yankees' Jasson Dominguez touches down in Bronx
Jasson Dominguez of the Yankees runs out his third-inning fielders choice against the Tigers at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
Jasson Dominguez was easy to spot shagging flies in centerfield before Tuesday night’s Bronx debut against the Tigers. No one else on the Yankees wears a green glove, probably because he’s the only player in pinstripes nicknamed, “The Martian.”
Technically, this is now home for Dominguez, but the spacious lawn that fronts Monument Park was alien turf to him just the same. He shaded his eyes from the sun, tested the warning track. Yankee Stadium can be an intimidating place for first-timers, but after Dominguez terrorized the Astros over the weekend in Houston, there was little reason to doubt he’d feel comfortable on baseball’s biggest stage.
Dominguez, as anticipated, took the change of scenery in stride. He responded to the Bleacher Creatures’ roll call with a skyward finger point -- later saying it was an homage to E.T.’s phone-home gesture, from a 1982 movie he’s never seen -- and delivered his first Bronx hit in the eighth inning, a rocket double to right-center that spurred a two-run rally in the Yankees’ 5-1 victory over the Tigers.
“Incredible,” Dominguez said through an interpreter. “Just being here at the Stadium as a player, it’s such a great experience.”
Experience is the key word here. Dominguez needs to be stockpiling every major-league morsel that he can during this final month of this season, and smacking that last slider — after flailing through three hitless at-bats — showed that he’s a quick study. Dominguez whiffed on four pitches during his first trip to the plate, waving wildly at a slider out of the zone for strike three, then twice bounced into fielder’s choice groundouts.
“He looks like a fantastic player,” Gerrit Cole said. “I mean, he’s got a lot of work to do. So does [Austin] Wells. So do all these guys. And I think one of the great attributes about them is that they’re very aware of that.”
Just a few more steps on the learning curve for Dominguez. As it turned out, the Yankees couldn’t have planned this next phase of his development any better. They threw him right into a retractable-roof caldron at Minute Maid Park, against the defending world champs, in a bold move that many GMs would likely shy away from doing to their prized prospects.
It could have been disastrous. Dominguez, though supremely talented, is only 20 — an age where he’d be packing up for his junior year of college. But the Yankees’ faith was rewarded when Dominguez homered twice during the weekend sweep of the Astros, first off the future Hall of Famer Justin Verlander — in his very first MLB at-bat Friday —then denting October hero Cristian Javier in Sunday’s prime time series finale.
There’s been no training wheels with Dominguez. He spent a whopping total of nine games at Triple-A Scranton before the Yankees summoned him for the Houston trip. Not only that, manager Aaron Boone had him batting third again Tuesday night for the third consecutive game, serving as protection for Aaron Judge.
Hitting Dominguez third was remarkable in itself, as he’s the youngest to bat there for the Yankees since Bobby Murcer, who was 20 years, 134 days “old” for his appearance on Oct. 1, 1966. Otherwise, Mickey Mantle (19 in 1951) and Johnny Priest (20 in 1911) are the only Yankees in that ballpark, age-wise.
Then again, this is a last-place team without a ton of options at the moment. Putting Dominguez at No. 3 ahead of Gleyber Torres (8 HRs, 1.034 OPS last 29 games) should give him some decent pitches to rake, and he’s not necessarily going to find that down below when the bottom half is filled with rookies — along with the .113-hitting catcher Ben Rortvedt. Plus, Dominguez’s even-keel approach, at such a young age, fits just about anywhere.
“I think just his easy going nature,” Boone said before Tuesday’s game. “He plays the game with ease and I think enjoys it — enjoys the preparation, enjoys the work and doesn’t seem to get overwhelmed by circumstances.”
It’s only been four games, a sample size that can make anybody look like an All-Star. In the Yankees’ case, however, they need Dominguez to live up to the hype for the next decade or so. With the franchise at risk of finishing with a losing record for the first time since 1992, the Yankees are navigating through a turbulent period, on the brink of an uncertain future. They’d like to pencil in Dominguez as soon as possible, so how he performs over this final month could help check one box in a long list.
“He’s had his ups and downs in the minor leagues, and through it all he’s continued to grow,” Boone said. “Hopefully he can be healthy, and in these final [25] games, get regular at-bats and start to really see what it’s like to prepare and game plan up here.”
On Tuesday night, The Martian finally got to see the Bronx. Both are hoping for a long and memorable relationship.
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
