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ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Jasson Dominguez used to think that he was one of the hardest workers on his teams, and why not? He always showed up on time. He always gave an honest effort. He never took shortcuts. He never got bigheaded when the Yankees gave him a $5.1 million signing bonus at age 16 or when he was being compared to all-time greats before he played his first game as a professional.
Whether Dominguez was in the minors or with the Yankees, he always really cared about getting better in all parts of his game, especially his fielding, which downgraded him in scouts’ eyes from a five-tool outfielder prospect to four.
An American League scout who has watched Dominguez since he was playing Low-A ball in Tampa agreed in a recent talk with NJ.com:
“He never dogged it. He worked hard. But he never was the hardest worker on his club. There was always someone next to him on the field giving more effort. It was noticeable that Dominguez wasn’t going above and beyond to get better when others around him with half his talent were.”
That message was relayed to Dominguez on Tuesday night before he played left field for the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders in a Triple-A game. With a smile and a head nod, he indicated the assessment was fair and accurate.
“Oh, definitely,” Dominguez said. “For sure. I’ve always worked hard, but definitely now I’m working more than what I used to do. That’s from being in the big leagues and having great teammates.”
Dominguez’s work habits began changing late last season. When the Yankees upgraded their bench by trading for Amed Rosario, the hard-working journeyman infielder took Dominguez, a fellow Dominican, under his wing.
“Rosario is the guy that pushed me,” Dominguez said. “He’s a guy that literally came early every day to do his work and I started doing that with him.”
When Rosario re-signed with the Yankees last winter as a free agent, he kept pushing Dominguez during their spring training workouts, on and off the field.
Dominguez kept it up when he started the season in the minors, then while they were back together with the Yankees, when he was on the injured list recovering from a shoulder injury. They’ve been separated again since Aug. 3, when the Yankees acquired outfielder Heliot Ramos just before the trade deadline and rookie Spencer Jones was picked over Dominguez to remain in the majors.
Back with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, Dominguez no longer needs anyone to push more out of him.
“I felt pretty good with Rosario around and now I keep doing it because I understand that I’ve got things that I need to improve. I understand what needs to be done now. It’s working harder than I ever worked trying to get better and hopefully get back up to the big leagues.”
Dominguez has been getting better. The switch-hitter was so much better batting left-handed in his first few years as a pro that some scouts suggested he give up batting right-handed. This year, he’s been a better right-handed hitter.
His outfield play is still below average, but his minus-1 Outs Above Average ranking in Baseball Savant’s metrics is much better than last season’s worst-in-the-league minus-9.
“I see a player who’s constantly getting better, and that’s the most important thing,” RailRiders manager Shelley Duncan said. “Jasson has been in the spotlight a lot and when you make mistakes with fundamentals or make mental errors, in New York it gets highlighted more than anywhere else in all of baseball.
“If you like take a guy like Jasson and that stuff happened in other places, it might slide under the radar and not even get noticed and you just chalk it up as a young guy learning. I say that because all of the mistakes that Jasson’s made over his career, he learned from them and I’ve seen him grow as a player.”
Dominguez will tell you that he’s not close to his prime. He wants to live up to his Martian nickname and those comparisons to Yankees legend Mickey Mantle and present-day superstar Mike Trout when he was a teen. That’s a farfetched dream, but he still has time to develop into a perennial All-Star.
“I hope one day I can meet those reputations for sure, but at the end of the day Mike Trout is Mike Trout and Mickey Mantle is Mickey Mantle,” Dominguez said. “They’ve already done it. I’m trying to grow myself to be able to do it, too.”
His opening act as a big leaguer was a great start, a first inning homer in his first game in Houston off future Hall of Famer Justin Verlander. He was 20 on Sept. 1, 2023, then a few days later headed for Tommy John surgery.
Almost three years later, he’s been a mixed bag of highs, lows and more injuries. He’s a career .243 hitter with 22 homers, 72 RBI, 36 steals and a .703 OPS in 741 plate appearances over 202 games. Those aren’t terrible stats for a 23-year-old who was rushed to the big leagues.
Dominguez had a pretty decent rookie year at the plate in 2025, batting .257 with 10 homers and 47 RBI in 123 games, but his fielding woes led to virtually no playing time in the final two months and then a return to Triple-A for the start of 2026.
He’s crushed it in Triple-A this year, hitting .313 with six homers and 21 RBI in 33 games, but his numbers in 53 games with the Yankees were disappointing — .230 with six homers and 14 RBI in 53 games, most of them filling in right field for injured three-time MVP Aaron Judge.
“Jasson has what it takes to be really good,” Scranton bench coach Gil Velazquez said. “He’s disciplined. He’s a good baseball player, period. He’s still young and it takes a good amount of reps to be able to not get surprised with situations and not make dumb mistakes. Everybody goes through that.”
Dominguez is still going through it. In his last full series, he misplayed a couple balls in the right field corner at Wrigley Field. These were unforced mistakes in his mind and they upset him.
“I want to improve the mental side,” he said. “I have to make better decisions. That’s one thing that I need to get better at.”
That’s part of the reason why Dominguez is back in the minors.
Following his option, he spent the allotted 72 hours that he had to report to Triple-A at his New Jersey home with his family.
“I used those three days to reset my mind so I could go to Scranton with the best attitude,” he said. “Obviously I want to be in the big leagues, but it is what it is now. If I came down here with a bad attitude and pouted or whatever, that’s not gonna help me get back up.”
Dominguez trusts the Yankees are doing what’s best for his career. He’s focused.
“I want to improve my whole game,” he said.
Slowly but surely, it’s growing.
“He cut a ball down in the left-field corner and threw a runner out at second the other day,” Duncan bragged. “His decision making and throwing is a lot better in the outfield this year. His focus pitch to pitch has gotten better every time I’ve seen him.
“It’s fun watching Jasson hit because he’s a carefree-loose type of hitter that can hit any type of pitcher. Those are fun hitters to have. He’s got the talent and skillset to be a really good big leaguer for a long time.”
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