Yankee fans are itching to get their first look at Jasson Dominguez, the super-hyped teenage prospect that has drawn comparisons to Mike Trout despite having yet to play in a professional baseball game.
For those fans, the wait won’t end when minor league seasons begin this week, with Dominguez being assigned to the team’s extended spring training in Tampa rather than a full-season club. Having Dominguez on a team would have only added to the excitement of having minor league baseball back for the first time since 2019, but for the Yankees and senior director of player development Kevin Reese, it’s not quite the time to have The Martian touch down on a minor league diamond.
“We’re in a different world,” Reese told reporters on Monday. “We didn’t play last year, Jasson is an 18-year-old that we’re all excited about. He’s got a lot of talent and a lot of skill. He hasn’t played in a ton of games, so we just wanted to put him in the best place to succeed.”
Dominguez has been seen as of a different world, signing for a whopping $5.1 million out of the Dominican Republic as soon as he became eligible at 16 years old. The COVID-19 pandemic interrupted his progression toward the Bronx, and despite his hyped skillset and physical attributes, the team decided it was best to start his journey in Tampa and take advantage of some of the unintentional changes that the pandemic has brought to the spring training landscape.
“Normally, extended spring training is a little bit of a cluster,” Reese said. “There’s a ton of people and a lot of craziness. This year we’re going to have a lot less people and that will provide an environment for more individual attention, and we’ll be able to iron out anything he needs to work through.”
While Dominguez will start in extended spring training, Reese said there was “absolutely” a chance that Dominguez would work his way onto a minor league roster by the end of the season.
“As we tell the players, all these decisions are short term,” Reese said. “He’s certainly in that group of guys who have a chance to impact a full-season roster. Once he gets rolling, I’m sure he’s going to be a steamroller through the minor leagues.”
Dominguez, fair or not, will face otherworldly expectations as he begins his professional career, but so far, Reese and the rest of the Yankees staff have marveled at the teenager’s ability to blind out the anticipation and let his abilities speak for themselves.
“Everybody walked away from spring training super impressed,” Reese said. “He was a pro, he was one of the guys. We’ve all seen players asked to have things a certain way because they’re a certain level of prospect…but he fit in really well…as far as everything that came to the table as advertised, both with the talent and the makeup, it’s all there.”
Dominguez, who has been working primarily in center field, would likely be assigned to the Single-A Tampa Tarpons if he were to be put on a roster at some point this season, Reese said, but whenever it happens, Reese is confident that fans will only be more excited for his eventual big-league arrival after seeing Dominguez in action for the first time.
“I apologize that you have to wait a little longer for that mystery to unveil itself,” Reese said. “But when it does, you’ll know.”
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