Jasson Dominguez’s first week in the majors was a highlight of the offense in an otherwise dismal 2023 at the plate for the New York Yankees.

He slugged four homers in eight games and made a strong impression in 31 at-bats. Then came Sept. 10, 2023 when he was scratched from the lineup against the Milwaukee Brewers due to an elbow issue.

The issue became Tommy John surgery and delayed any further progress for a while, limiting Dominguez to 56 at-bats in 18 games in the final month. And it was the type of thing that remained in the background since the Yankees were closing in and ultimately securing home field advantage in the American League.

Now Dominguez as a left fielder appears to be among the focal points when spring training begins in a few week. Both manager Aaron Boone and managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner was making the rounds on Tuesday and both gave statements alluding to how left field is there for Dominguez at the moment.

Dominguez made 13 appearances in left field last season and had one rough game, though he also took a few suspect routes to ball. Still he can be absolved for being thrown into the left field mix towards the end of the season without sufficient practice at everything involving the position due to his rehab from spring training.

Even with the lack of reps in left field, the Yankees drew some criticism for not calling up Dominguez when rosters expanded Sept. 1. It ultimately became a moot point when he joined the team a few days later and his involvement in the postseason became limited to three pinch running appearances because of not wanting to put an uncertain glove in left field.

Dominguez has shown some signs of being strong defensively in center field, which will be mostly held by Cody Bellinger but the belief is over a month of practice in spring training can mold him into a decent left fielder, which is what Boone seemed to be hinting at on an appearance with WFAN that preceded Steinbrenner’s comments on the YES Network.

“I see (Dominguez) as the starting left fielder,’’ said Steinbrenner. “There will be a lot of meetings and discussions in spring training, and we’ll see how he performs and how he feels.”

While Dominguez may not be the defender Alex Verdugo is, the Yankees are hoping and optimistic he will live up his billing as the “Martian” that has been mentioned with him ever since signing as an international free agent in July 2019.

Left field is often a revolving door for the Yankees. Before Verdugo was acquired 10 players appeared there in 2023 with nobody making more than Oswaldo Cabrera’s 34 starts and it was the second straight season the Yankees deployed 10 for at least one game in left field.

If Dominguez does become the opening day left fielder, he will be the seventh straight left fielder in the opener. Brett Gardner held the role eight times in an 11-year span from 2010 through 2020.

Gardner was preceded by two years of Johnny Damon there and five seasons of Hideki Matsui, who could be counted on for durability other than 2006 when he broke his wrist trying to make a sliding catch.

When the Yankees won four titles in five seasons from 1996 through 2001, they had a different opening day left fielder each time and that included Chuck Knoblauch moving there from second base.

Getting Dominguez to turn an abundance of practice into a success in the field is part of the Yankees’ belief they are a better team than last year’s group which Luis Severino jokingly said only featured a lineup of Aaron Judge and Juan Soto. The Yankees showed Severino’s comments had some validity at times but by the end of the season it was a better lineup with Jazz Chisholm Jr. in the mix.

Like Dominguez, Chisholm was learning third base on the fly and he did it adequately, though the belief there is more practice time will also have the same effect as a potential full-scale transition to left field for Dominguez.

Those things are storylines along with imports of Cody Bellinger, Paul Goldschmidt, Max Fried and Devin Williams. Bellinger and Goldschmidt and Fried are viewed as defensive standouts while Williams is there for at least one year to stabilize a closer’s role that landed on Luke Weaver after Clay Holmes set the dubious achievement of 13 blown saves.

Some people may disagree with me, but I think we have a better team right now than we did a year ago today,” Steinbrenner said on the YES Network “I think our starting rotation is better. I think our defense is better. And I think that [Cody] Bellinger and [Paul] Goldschmidt are going to make up for a good deal of Juan’s offense, his bat.”

Those are various things the Yankees will discover in the upcoming weeks while the Knicks motor towards a high seed, St. John’s tries to stay at the top of the Big East and the Rangers try to get over the playoff line.