Yankees Aren't Giving Up on Young Slugger

Since that initial run, Dominguez has struggled to find his footing on the big league roster. He was hurt shortly after that loud debut in Houston. In 2024, Dominguez struggled to get playing time and had been blocked by Alex Verdugo, who now can't find a job in major league baseball.

Dominguez had even been blocked in the season he made his debut. That year, Harrison Bader, who had a career-worst 69 wRC+ and finished the season with the Cincinnati Reds, was over him on the depth chart for the majority of the season.

This season, Dominguez saw the most playing time of his major league career, and yet, those 429 plate appearances could have been a little more had it not been for Trent Grisham. It was at least more understandable for Dominguez to lose playing time to Grisham, who will have more than his fair share of suitors this winter, unlike the last person who stood in his way.

Yankees Still Believe

Despite poor defensive metrics, manager Aaron Boone still believes the Martian showed enough upside.

"There's improvement to be had there for him," Boone said, according to Max Goodman of NJ.com. "He knows that. But I think this season showed us that we can still very much dream on the kind of high-end player we think he could be."

The Yankees have proven to be unreliable narrators in their own postmortem press conferences, but it isn't hard to see what Boone is saying. Yes, those -7 defensive runs saved and -9 outs above average in 793 innings in the outfield were alarming, but his ability to be a league-average bat was commendable, despite the marginal playing time, which is a silver lining.

Dominguez hit .257/.331/.388 with a 103 wRC+. He had 10 homers and 47 RBI.

One thing about Dominguez is that he has a great eye. His 9.6% walk rate was in the 67th percentile in MLB. Dominguez also saw 3.94 pitches per plate appearance. His on-base this season was nearly 60 points higher than Anthony Volpe's career .272 OBP.

"I do feel like he has the ability right-handed," Boone continued. "It's his natural side. You watch him just in BP and things like that, he's got power the other way. It's very similar. I think it's just an experience thing, but I think he has a chance to really hit. I think he has a chance to become a good defender as well. That's the area he's gotta improve on the most, though."

Dominguez's bat may live up to the hype, but right now, the big fear is his defense. Grisham played out of his mind, but those defensive lapses didn't help his cause.

Boone said he does believe his young outfielder will eventually come around as far as his glove goes.

"I think obviously defensively, left field continues to be a work in progress," Boone said. "That being said, I think he's made tremendous strides out there as well, and I think we can all envision him becoming a very good defender out there, just with his athleticism, his speed, his arm strength, the work he's put into it."

If Dominguez finally achieves the big career that felt inevitable in the summer of 2019, you can point to his lone playoff at-bat as a starting point. That at-bat was a microcosm of his career. Despite being blocked every step of the way, Dominguez always manages to show just enough and never looks lost at the plate when he gets playing time. It's how you have close to a 10% walk rate and average almost four pitches per at-bat when you don't play every day.

The Yankees are a long way from 2026. The World Series hasn't even begun. Dominguez may finally have that expanded role they envisioned for him after signing him right out of the Dominican Republic, but a lot can happen between now and then.

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