Jasson Dominguez came into the Yankees organization as one of the most hyped prospects in recent memory for the franchise, throwing heavy pressure onto a teenager that was drawing Mickey Mantle and Mike Trout comparisons before ever seeing a single pitch in professional baseball.
“I feel really good to be compared to some of those guys,” Dominguez said at Yankees minor league camp on Wednesday. “I would like to be as good or even better than some of them, but I know it’s a long way until I can get to that point. But it feels really good.”
The 19-year-old Dominguez showed his humanity last season, batting .252 with a .731 OPS in his first professional season, which included time in rookie ball and with the Class-A Tampa Tarpons. He has played in just 56 games in the minor leagues, so nobody is panicking that Dominguez may not pan out after being hyped as the next New York superstar, but Dominguez is still making adjustments to improve upon his debut season.
“I tried to be more simple,” Dominguez said. “The last year I had a lot of movement in my mechanics, and this year I want to be a lot more simple."
Dominguez specifically noted trying to keep his hands more still at the plate when loading up for a pitch, which seemed to help at Wednesday’s camp, when he blasted a pitch off the batter’s eye.
“I feel really good,” Dominguez said. “This camp has helped me a lot with what I need for the season. I came a little bit early, which is really good.”
Dominguez is still one of the top-ranked Yankee prospects, and still has plenty of time as a 19-year-old. So, aside from improving upon his 2021 campaign, Dominguez is simply looking for consistent chances to gain more experience, something he couldn’t do in 2020 due to the canceled minor league season.
“The goal for this year is to stay healthy,” Dominguez said. “If I’m healthy, I can control the other things.”
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