The New York Yankees always do a stellar job of promoting their youth and the potential they hold for the future. Estevan Florial was the recipient of plenty of attention for his tools and development, despite the injuries he’s sustained over the past two seasons.
Florial’s favoritism has quickly dropped within the MLB prospect rankings after missing a good chunk of 2019 with a broken wrist. The latest youth prospect to shine through the clouded baseball mess is Jasson Dominguez, a 16-year-old Hulk lookalike.
Specifically for the Yankees, Baseball America has Dominguez ranked first, followed by pitchers Clarke Schmidt and Deivi Garcia. The young Dominican native has impressed with his as of late with his batting videos, and the received raving reviews from scouts.
Here’s Baseball America’s scouting report on Dominguez:
Dominguez is an advanced hitter from both sides of the plate with plate discipline, a low chase rate for someone his age and a swing path that allows his barrel to stay in the zone for a very long time. His sense of timing against all types of pitches mitigates the pre-pitch movement in his swing, and strong hands, wrists and forearms give him the potential for plenty of power from both sides of the plate. He has already shown exit velocities up to 108 mph from both sides of the plate in batting practice and has shown little problem turning around high-level velocity.
The Yankees scouted Dominguez as a shortstop and a catcher but decided that center field was the best place to deploy his natural gifts without exacting a heavy toll on his body. He has double-plus speed, which he combines with smooth, advanced route-running and quick-burst speed to help him track down balls in the far reaches of the outfield. His arm strength is plus or a tick better and is magnified by incredible accuracy. Internally, the Yankees describe Dominguez as a player who might be constructed with by taking the best tools from other players throughout their system and molding them into a single player. His power, speed and athleticism rank among the best in the organization, which gives him the highest ceiling in a system filled with young, high-upside prospects.
With Florial losing his ground as the Yankees’ top prospect, Dominguez could quickly take over the top spot and prove his worth in the minor league system. At such a young age, we know he has plenty of time left to progress, and he’s already begun preparing for the next step up.