Should the Yankees call up Jasson Domínguez and start him instead of Alex Verdugo?

NEW YORK — Top New York Yankees prospect Jasson Domínguez played Friday at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, where he started in left field and batted second.

On Sunday, Major League Baseball’s active roster will expand from 26 to 28, allowing the Yankees to call up Domínguez without having to cut anyone else to make room for him.

Are they going to do that?

“I don’t know,” manager Aaron Boone said before Friday’s season opener against the St. Louis Cardinals at Yankee Stadium. “We’ll see. We haven’t made that decision yet. So I don’t know.”

But should they call Domínguez? The AthleticsYankees reporters Chris Kirschner and Brendan Kuty discuss.

Jasson Domínguez blazes around the bases with his first triple of 2024 in 11.75 seconds! (110.5 mph EV, no less.)

Only SS Anthony Volpe has achieved a faster home-to-third position among players still in the @Yankees org this season.@swbrailriders | @NYYPlayerDev photo.twitter.com/LiIE28HmBo

— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) August 28, 2024

Should the Yankees call up Dominguez?

Kirschner: This should be a logical decision given the options the club has. The answer is a resounding yes. He can be a difference maker for the Yankees in the home stretch and into October.

Left field has been one of the Yankees’ weakest positions this year. As of Friday, their combined 84 wRC+ ranked 24th in MLB. Defensively, they ranked 13th among teams in outs above average in left field. And they ranked dead last in Statcast’s baserunning above average. The bar will be low for Domínguez to prove he can outperform what the Yankees have gotten from left fielders this year.

The Yankees will likely be cautious about how much Domínguez plays if he is called up, as they want to ensure he maintains his rookie status for 2025. He must fall below the 130 career at-bat threshold to be considered a rookie next year (Domínguez has 35 career at-bats). If he wins Rookie of the Year in 2025, the Yankees would receive a conditional draft pick at the end of the first round.

There is no downside. They have to see if Dominguez can win the everyday left field job.

Cuty: You make compelling points, Chris. I’ll play devil’s advocate.

Would it be exciting to call Domínguez and have him audition for a month? Absolutely. Could you also argue that it’s impractical? Maybe.

There’s no guarantee that Domínguez would arrive in the Bronx and immediately put on the show he did in his debut last year, hitting four home runs with a .980 OPS in eight games before tearing his ulnar collateral ligament. That would have been electric. It would have been asking a lot.

Last year, when Domínguez broke into the majors on Sept. 1, the Yankees were barely in contention. They were three games below .500. They were 17 1/2 games behind in the AL East. The Yankees acted as if they were still going strong, but a playoff-less October felt almost inevitable. There was little pressure for Domínguez.

This would be different. Could he handle it? Absolutely. He’s been processing all the hype that came with his franchise-record $5.1 million signing bonus at age 16. But there’s no denying that it would be a lot to put on the shoulders of the 21-year-old. And that’s without even getting to our next question…

What happens to the selection if they call him up?

Kirschner: Yankees manager Aaron Boone said that if Domínguez were to be called up, they would ideally want him to play regularly so as not to hinder his development. That would mean Alex Verdugo would lose his starting job. It could also mean Trent Grisham would be pushed further down the depth chart. On days that Aaron Judge started as the team’s designated hitter, Domínguez could start in center field.

Perhaps the Yankees don’t want to upend the locker room by replacing Verdugo — whom Judge personally recommended they trade this offseason and in previous years — with a rookie starting job. But Verdugo has had nearly a season’s worth of games to prove that he shouldn’t be competing with a rookie for his job, and he’s failed.

He’s rated negative offensively, on the base paths, and public advanced defensive stats are divided on his value. Isn’t that enough for the organization to believe they can do better by trying someone else? And if Domínguez doesn’t perform over the next month, well, they’re tied for first place with Verdugo as one of MLB’s worst everyday position players.

It looks like Domínguez will have a bigger impact than Verdugo in October.

Cuty: I could see that. You could certainly argue that Dominguez has a higher ceiling on offense than Verdugo — even in the short term. There’s no sugarcoating it: The 28-year-old isn’t what the Yankees expected at the plate.

The devil’s advocate argument, however, would be that Verdugo actually looks like a strong and sometimes excellent defensive left fielder. He’s made some memorable blunders, but I also think he makes almost all the routine plays, sacrifices his body, and has a great arm. Plus, he’d be much more comfortable with the position than Dominguez when it comes down to it in October.

If the Yankees were to promote Dominguez and bench Verdugo, I think there’s a good chance the team could draft Trent Grisham and have Verdugo take over his role as the fourth outfielder.

Understanding that it’s a small sample, Verdugo has looked a little better at the plate of late. On Friday, he was on a five-game streak of hitting (.421 BA, 1.029 OPS), which coincided with him switching to batting gloves made of materials that didn’t cause allergic reactions on his skin. Verdugo struck out in all three of his at-bats on Friday night.

As for the clubhouse, I think it can handle the move just fine. As you said, Verdugo has had plenty of time to prove himself, and it’s not like they’d replace him with a nobody.

What do we think is happening?

It’s not a slam dunk that Dominguez is the pick on Sunday. If the Yankees decide to make an internal move, Dominguez is likely the candidate.

The Yankees, however, could opt for an outside candidate. The St. Louis Cardinals designated Tommy Pham for assignment on Friday. If the Yankees are looking for a platoon partner for Verdugo, signing Pham could be a good move. Pham has a .762 OPS against left-handed pitching this year, while Verdugo had a .609 OPS against lefties entering Friday. Another outside option would be Robbie Grossman, whom the Texas Rangers designated for assignment on Thursday. Grossman’s OPS against lefties is .819 this season and .809 for his career.

The Yankees have praised Verdugo for his bat-to-ball skills all season long. If they wanted to play him more, a platoon partner might be the best way to maximize his production.

(Photo by Jasson Domínguez: Cliff Welch/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)