Yankees prospect Jasson Domínguez has been crushing the ball this spring and that continued with a prodigious blast Thursday afternoon. Or, in the parlance of my esteemed colleague Dayn Perry:
Jasson Domínguez hits ball hard, also far.
Out of this world 👽 pic.twitter.com/x7xN3n9RvY
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) March 9, 2023
That's 399 feet and 106.8 miles per hour off the bat, per Statcast.
Domínguez entered Thursday's action hitting .429 (6 for 14) with two homers, four RBI, a stolen base and more walks than strikeouts this spring. As you might have noticed in the above highlight, the shot Thursday was a three-run blast, so in Domínguez's 1 for 2 effort on Thursday, he moved to seven RBI in just 16 at-bats this spring. He's also now hitting .438 with a 1.125 slugging percentage.
The 20-year-old Domínguez only has two years of pro ball stateside. In 40 games for High-A Hudson Valley last season, he hit .306/.397/.510 with six doubles, four triples, six homers, 22 RBI, 33 runs and 17 steals. He was promoted to Double-A late in the season for five games and it seems that's the likeliest starting point for him in 2023.
CBS Sports prospect expert R.J. Anderson ranked Domínguez as the Yankees' third-best prospect for this season and said the following:
Domínguez achieved instant fame (or as close to it as a teenage ballplayer from the Dominican Republic can get) when he signed with the Yankees for more than $5 million in 2019. That kind of ascent often begets warped expectations, but only until it then begets feelings of disappointment. None of it is particularly fair to Domínguez, who never asked to be described as an extraterrestrial or projected as a switch-hitting generational talent. Indeed, it's easy to lose sight of the fact that he posted an .837 OPS last season split across three levels in which he was at least two years younger than his average opponent. That, plus Domínguez's improved play over the course of the season, are encouraging signs. He still possesses some intriguing physical projection, too, including above-average power and speed. Domínguez probably won't become the next Mike Trout, but there's a big-league player here. Possibly a good one.
For any Yankees fans getting excited for a possible 2023 debut, it would be a pretty big leap but it isn't without precedent. Perhaps the most extreme recent example would be Juan Soto spending just 15 games in High-A and eight in Double-A before injuries forced the Nationals to promote him ahead of schedule and he never looked back.
The Yankees' left-field situation could be one of their problem areas, too. It looks like Aaron Hicks for now, though Aaron Judge is learning left field so Giancarlo Stanton could get some reps in right field, which opens up the DH slot for someone from the glut of infielders.
