Harrison Bader being placed on waivers opened up speculation about whether the Yankees would end up promoting top outfield prospect Jasson Dominguez at some point in the season. The Yankees have struggled to find their centerfielder this season, as while Harrison Bader provided elite defense and Isiah Kiner-Falefa was able to come up with some huge hits with Runners in Scoring Position, they’ve ranked 27th in wRC+. Their response? Calling up the red-hot Jasson Dominguez.
After a ridiculous month of August, the Yankees are going to make the aggressive decision to promote the 20-year-old switch-hitting phenom against the Houston Astros on the road Friday, according to MLB.com.
- Yankees low-key trade acquisition paying off in dividends early
- The Yankees have been blessed by the pitching gods once again
- Yankees getting mind-blowing offensive value from defense-first catcher
Yankees Showing Commitment to Their Farm System
The Yankees promoted Anthony Volpe prior to the season, and he’s shown progress throughout the season, but he’s not the only name that’s come up this season. Earlier in the month, the Yankees promoted both Oswald Peraza and Everson Pereira, and they’ve reportedly considered calling up catcher Austin Wells as well. Jasson Dominguez will join a growing list of rookies that the Yankees are rewarding everyday playing time to, especially with their poor play in the regular season.
With the Yankees well out of the playoff picture, they want to get their top prospects some Major League action so that they can evaluate who they have for 2024 and beyond. This will serve as Jasson Dominguez’s second promotion of the season, as he went from Double-A to Triple-A following Everson Pereira’s promotion to Triple-A, but after tearing up the International League over the last week, the Yankees saw enough.
It’s possible that the Yankees saw the inflated run environment in Triple-A and wanted to challenge Dominguez more at the Major League level, where he’ll face the best baseball has to offer. We saw the Yankees aggressively promote The Martian to Double-A last September, where he struggled in the regular season before lighting it up in the playoffs en route to the Somerset Patriots’ Eastern League title.
In 2023, Dominguez has slashed .265/.377/.425 with 40 steals and 15 HRs, and since the All-Star Break, he’s hitting .368 with a 167 wRC+ and cutting his strikeout rate down to 17.1% over that stretch. He’s swinging at 70.4% of pitches seen in-zone while chasing just 21.2%, showing off an elite ability to make the right swing decisions, being aggressive when needed, and passive when not given anything to hit.
His power and speed combination, coupled with his advanced plate discipline at the age of 20, makes him a high-ceiling prospect with the potential to become a superstar in their outfield. His debut will be on Friday against the Astros on the road, and it’ll be a highly anticipated game for the Yankees as they get another glimpse at what could be a really bright future.