Getting a few extra at-bats for Jasson Dominguez would be nice for New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone, but it will not come at the cost of his development as a defender.
The 22-year-old left-fielder had been lifted in the seventh or eighth innings for defensive replacement Trent Grisham in three of New York’s first four games of the 2025 season. That included Tuesday night’s loss against the Arizona Diamondbacks — a game in which Dominguez launched his first home run of the season but was pulled after seven innings.
Arizona jumped on Mark Leiter Jr. in the eighth inning for five runs, notably from a Eugenio Suarez grand slam, that lifted the visitors to a 7-5 win and saddled the Yankees with their first loss of the season.
Dominguez’s bat projects to be a significant difference-maker in the majors. He has seven home runs in his first 98 MLB at-bats. That sort of power could have been useful in the ninth inning. Instead, Grisham struck out looking for the second out of the inning. Ben Rice followed with a solo home run, but it was as close as the Yankees would get.
This is a scenario that could happen again, but Dominguez’s questionable defense that is still very much a work in progress is of a greater priority for Boone late in games, which is why he will stay the course on such decisions until the up-and-comer develops into a dependable fielder.
“It’s an important part of the process in making sure that Jasson continues to develop in the best possible way,” Boone said on Wednesday prior to the middle game of New York’s series against the D-Backs. “I’m putting Trent Grisham in for him, too, who’s a really good player, and I feel like is playing at a really high level right now… Over time, I won’t do that because I do feel like [Dominguez] will get to a point where he continues to develop, continues to get more and more comfortable with reps out there to where, my expectation, is that that he’ll become an outstanding defensive left fielder. You can’t guard for everything, but I want his development to go as best as possible.”
Dominguez’s early defensive numbers prove that it is the right move for Boone to make, especially because the ball will more often than not find the weak point of a defense late in games. In four games, his outs above average (OAA) is already at a minus-3.
