Jasson Dominguez was at one point the no. 1 prospect in the Yankees’ organization, and when he came up in 2023 he lit the baseball world on fire before having it come to an abrupt end with a UCL tear.
Alex Verdugo beat him out for the starting left field job in the 2024 postseason and Trent Grisham would take his job in 2025 with a breakout season to establish himself as the starting centerfielder.
With a chance to give Dominguez a runway to play every single day in 2026, the Yankees instead chose to hand over over $55 million in financial commitments for the upcoming season to push him back to a bench role.
Now, the Yankees are looking to add another outfielder to the roster with a right-handed hitter being the ideal fit for the roster in their mind.
Does this spell the potential end to Jasson Dominguez in the Bronx?
READ MORE: Yankees submitted a Major League offer to Austin Slater in free agency
Why Are the Yankees Continuing to Push Jasson Dominguez Down the Depth Chart?
Jasson Dominguez had a 116 wRC+ against right-handed pitching last year and was one of the best baserunners on the team, there’s enough upside and appeal to see him being an everyday regular on a big-league roster.
Only 22 years old, the switch-hitter could start on a good chunk of MLB teams (including some playoff hopefuls), but the Yankees have instead chosen to spend more money to keep him out of the lineup.
The primary reason is the defense, which has been a sticking point for Dominguez’s profile tracing back to his days as a prospect where multiple evaluators were confident he couldn’t play centerfield in the big leagues.
His speed and athleticsm created an understandable belief that he could hold up well in a corner outfield spot, but that has not been the case to this point.
Perhaps the Yankees would be able to stomach letting Dominguez, who doesn’t have a lot of professional experience relative to other sophomores, work it out in left field but his offensive flaws are not a good match for this lineup.
Cody Bellinger is an elite defensive left fielder which is an upgrade over Jasson Dominguez, but he was also one of the best offensive weapons against southpaws last season.
His 180 wRC+ and .601 SLG% are inside the top three among qualified hitters in those situations, and the Yankees’ lack of left-right balance in the lineup is too skewed in the left-handed direction to fit Dominguez into the mix.
If the Yankees didn’t bring back Trent Grisham their outfield defense would look really rough on paper, and they would still need to add a fourth outfielder who can hit lefties.
Grisham also had an expected OPS north of .800 last year in left-on-left matchups so there’s more upside there against southpaws than there is for Jasson Dominguez who has never hit well from the right-handed side.
Brian Cashman still seems to be skeptical of trusting Grisham or even Ben Rice against lefties because of the team’s rumored interest in Paul Goldschmidt and Austin Slater.
The issue lies in what the Yankees want this roster to look like; since the trade deadline the front office has determined that their biggest issues are hitting left-handed pitching and preventing runs.
On the position player side, it means running more right-handed bats for a platoon or bench role while also having guys who can make big plays to take pressure off the pitching staff.
Some players on this roster contribute to one of these two issues, but Jasson Dominguez stands alone as the only player on their projected Opening Day roster who contributes to both problems.
Perhaps the team stashes him in Triple-A or an injury to Giancarlo Stanton occurs in Spring Training, but the Yankees are likely surveying what the market thinks of The Martian as we speak.
There’s a world where the Yankees are too right-handed or don’t have any speed and in those worlds Jasson Dominguez would be starting on this team, but for as talented as he is, his flaws will keep him out of the lineup.