Jasson Dominguez is finally about to get his chance to live up to his otherworldly fanfare.
After teasing his talent as a September call-up in 2023 and then roughing it through an injury-riddled 2024, Dominguez is set to enter spring training as the Yankees’ presumed starting left fielder in a reshaped outfield alongside Aaron Judge and Cody Bellinger.
Dominguez’s arrival — one lasting longer than just a September cameo — has been long anticipated, and it has the chance to add a different element to the Yankees lineup if he plays up to his potential.
“I’d like to see Dominguez get his shot,” general manager Brian Cashman said earlier this offseason. “Now, he’s young. He’s got to earn it, and he’s got to retain it.”
The 21-year-old Dominguez’s big league career to this point has been more stop-and-go than smooth sailing.
But the switch-hitter offers the threat of power and athleticism and was mentioned by manager Aaron Boone earlier this week as a potential answer to the hole in the leadoff spot — a sign of what the club believes he is capable of.
The Yankees acquired Bellinger and Paul Goldschmidt to bolster their lineup after missing out on Juan Soto in free agency, banking on their veteran bats to help make up for the big loss.
But a healthy Dominguez has an even higher ceiling for what he could add to the lineup if he is able to make adjustments against major league pitching — which proved to be a challenge late last year.
Had Dominguez not torn his UCL in his first eight games as a big leaguer in 2023 — after homering in his first at-bat off future Hall of Famer Justin Verlander and slugging four homers before getting hurt — he may have gotten this chance from the beginning of last season.
Instead, the Yankees went out and acquired Alex Verdugo to be a stopgap in left field with Judge slotting over in center field and Soto manning right.
Dominguez got healthy and finished with his rehab assignment by June, but was optioned to Triple-A without a clear-cut opportunity for starts, and then suffered a strained oblique that knocked him out till late July.
As Verdugo slumped through the summer months, the calls for Dominguez only intensified, but the Yankees waited to bring him up for good until Sept. 9 — despite rival scouts believing he looked ready before then — when they finally gave him an opportunity to see if he could supplant Verdugo by October.
Nevertheless, Dominguez’s transition from center to left field was rocky, with a few defensive miscues sticking out like a sore thumb, and he hit just .179 with a .617 OPS across 18 games.
By the time the postseason rolled around, the Yankees went back to Verdugo with Dominguez relegated to pinch running.
Now, with an offseason of work and what is expected to be a full spring training of playing left field — where some scouts believe he will end up long term — Dominguez will be trying to prove he is better than what he showed in his audition there last season.
Leiter arrived last season in a trade deadline deal with the Cubs and had a rocky introduction to pinstripes, pitching to a 4.98 ERA in 21 appearances.
The righty was left off the Yankees’ ALDS and ALCS rosters before being added as an injury replacement in the ALCS and recording some big outs against the Guardians.
