What Should the Yankees Expect From Jasson Dominguez in 2025?
New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone announced that rookie Jasson Dominguez will likely be the team’s left fielder for the 2025 season, with new acquisition Cody Bellinger playing predominantly in center.
As Spring Training rapidly approaches, it is worth diving into what is so exciting about the Yankees’ top prospect and what reasonable expectations are from him this season.
PHOTO: Cary Edmondson/Imagn Images
The Yankees signed Dominguez as an international free agent in 2019 when he was just 16 years old. The signing was met with a lot of excitement, with many expecting ‘The Martian’ to become the next big star to come to the Bronx. Because of how long ago Dominguez signed with the Yankees, some believe his development has been slow. He has played sparingly in MLB over the last two seasons and still has rookie status for 2025. However, that is not the case due to several factors.
Prospects as young as Dominguez can take several years to reach the big leagues, which is perfectly fine. Then you add in the fact that Dominguez, along with most other prospects, missed out on a year of development in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the elbow injury in late 2023 that required Tommy John surgery and heavily impacted Dominguez’s 2024 season. If not for those two significant setbacks, Dominguez likely would have become an MLB regular much sooner.
Regardless, Dominguez is still very young at just 21 years old (he will turn 22 on Feb. 7). For reference, Jackson Holliday, one of the most exciting young pieces to come through the Baltimore Orioles’ stacked farm system in recent years, is just about 10 months younger than Dominguez.
There is plenty to be excited about with Dominguez, especially when looking at projections for the 2025 season.
- Steamer: .249/.326/.418, 18 home runs, 112 wRC+, 2.1 fWAR
- ZiPS: .254/.324/.420, 16 home runs, 112 wRC+, 2.0 fWAR
- OOPSY: .247/.320/.420, 21 home runs, 110 wRC+, 2.6 fWAR
Projections are notoriously conservative for prospects, so the fact that various reputable projection systems are expecting Dominguez to be an above-average hitter and reach at least 2.0 fWAR is very notable.
Dominguez is a career .274/.373/.444 hitter in the minor leagues. The on-base percentage is certainly encouraging, and in his brief time in the major leagues, he has showcased good plate discipline.
If Dominguez can produce a solid on-base percentage in MLB, that would greatly benefit the Yankees’ lineup after the loss of Juan Soto.
There is no doubt that Dominguez possesses power, especially from the left side, which has always been his strongest side when he comes up through the ranks.
During FanGraphs’ writeup on the Yankees’ top 45 prospects heading into 2025, Eric Longenhagen detailed Dominguez’s offensive profile.
“He’s looking to pull from the left side of the dish, while he’s a bit more opposite-field oriented from the right side,” Longenhagen wrote.
“A short-levered guy, Dominguez can wait an extra beat to identify breaking balls, and he crushes the mistakes he sees.”
Dominguez also brings a speed element. He is a stolen base threat, along with Anthony Volpe and Jazz Chisholm Jr. Those three bring a different element, one that the Yankees did not have for much of the 2024 season.
The worry with Dominguez is on the defensive side, where he made some rough blunders down the stretch in 2024 during his brief big-league stint. Many are concerned that he is playing a new position on the left field in a tough ballpark like Yankee Stadium, but it just makes sense to put the worst defender in the less important position.
Not to mention, having a full, healthy offseason and Spring Training to get used to the position should be of great benefit. Rather than being thrown into the spotlight of a pennant race after just 11 games at the position in the minor leagues while coming off of an oblique injury, Dominguez will have much more time to prepare for his role in 2025.
It is always wise to have patience with young players, even ones as highly regarded as Dominguez.
No one should expect him to be a star, but there should be reason to believe that he can be a productive offensive player for the Yankees in 2025.
PHOTO: Cary Edmondson/Imagn Images
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Categorized:Yankees