Remember Domingo German, that New York Yankees pitcher that finish the 2019 season with a 4.03 ERA and 38.1% ground ball rate? That guy who won 18 overall games and struck out nearly 10 batters per nine innings?
Well, I’m happy to announce that German has begun pitching again after a tumultuous 2020 where he served in an 81 game suspension for a domestic abuse issue in 2019. It was a completely justified consequence for his actions, but German is keen on returning to the MLB and alleviating any concerns over his character.
It seems as if German has done the work on himself to become a better man in person, in which the Yankees will gladly welcome him back and offer him a second chance at life.
Since his suspension commenced last year, German pitched his first game with a Toros del Este in the Dominican League on Monday night. At 28 years old, German has plenty of time left to reach his peak potential with the Yankees, and on Monday night, he showed a little bit of what he’s capable of. He finished with four hitless, scoreless innings, one walk, and seven strikeouts in his debut in the Dominican league.
His return to baseball was perfect, and with three years of control left on his contract, the Yankees are expecting him to be a key cog in their starting pitching rotation next year.
The Yankees still aren’t committed to Domingo:
Now, it is fair to mention that Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner stated what German did in his domestic abuse case was “horrific.†There is no indication of whether they will retain him or move on to greener pastures in the future, but as of right now, the expectation is that the Yankees will offer him another chance to return to baseball and become a focal point in the rotation.
Having missed the entire abbreviated 2020 campaign, German will have to work his way back up to MLB level baseball. He will undoubtedly have a rocky start, but with the expectation that the league year will return to normal in 2021, the hope is that spring training will offer him plenty of time to regain his form.