Ryan Garcia
With Francys Romero’s report of Jasson Dominguez being recalled by the Yankees from Triple-A being corroborated, we’re all waiting for the official news of Giancarlo Stanton’s calf injury.
The star DH has dealt with lower body issues throughout his career and while this isn’t a surprising outcome, it does put Dominguez in a scenario he’s likely been anticipating since March.
An opening on the roster has been made, and he has a chance to jump right through if he were to play at a high level in his opportunities.
A still-questionable glove in left field if we’re being nice, Dominguez has shown some positive signs of growth offensively in the Minor Leagues, and he could parlay his hot start into a surprising jolt for this offense.
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Why Ben Rice’s Rise With Yankees Should Give Jasson Dominguez Hope
Rather than sulking his way into a poor April after a demotion to Triple-A, Jasson Dominguez has made some serious strides offensively that remind me of the hitter he was before Tommy John Surgery.
The high Chase% we saw in 2025 was startling given his reputation for being patient, and it caused him to strikeout way more than expected since he would offer at bad pitches to hit and come up empty.
He’s cut down that mark significantly in Scranton where he’s displayed elite plate control while still hunting hittable fastballs in the zone.
We’re also seeing excellent contact quality, consistently hitting the ball hard on a line with tons of pulled contact in the air, another trait that he seemed to abandon after tearing his UCL.
Perhaps the biggest greenflag so far has been his 1.172 OPS against southpaws, showing off tons of power and contact as he’s continued some of the positive signs we saw during Spring Training in those matchups.
I am not suddenly advising the Yankees to use Jasson Dominguez as a short-side platoon for Trent Grisham against a tough left-handed pitcher, but there’s going to be scenarios where he’ll get to face a left-handed pitcher.
Showing any competence in those matchups will squeeze Randal Grichuk out of a role, and while it’s easy for us to sit here and say the Yankees won’t have room for Dominguez when healthy, the same was said about Ben Rice.
Rice was promoted in 2024 and showed off some solid skills that weren’t translating into results which led to a demotion to Scranton and the signing of Paul Goldschmidt entering 2025.
With Giancarlo Stanton as the full-time DH, the team did not have a perceived role for Rice if fully healthy, but an injury to the aforementioned 2017 NL MVP created the runway needed for him to carve out a role.
As the team figured out how they’d use Rice, Dominguez, Grisham, Goldschmidt, and Stanton throughout the year it became clear that they could not win without their 2021 late-round draft gem.
Could a red-hot Jasson Dominguez force Randal Grichuk off of the roster? Absolutely, there’s not much creativity needed to imagine that scenario.
Is it possible that he finds a way to steal the role of an unsuspecting Trent Grisham? Definitely, that’s the inverse of what happened last season.
There’s even a world where his performance causes the Yankees to re-think Giancarlo Stanton’s role on this team if the slugging veteran doesn’t get red-hot.
Injuries, underperformance, and the unexpected curveballs that come over the course of an MLB season are all variables that could push Dominguez back into the lineup; will he take advantage of it?
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