Jasson Dominguez

It was quite an eventful age-20 season for The Martian. He was slow out of the gates at Double-A, logging a .685 OPS over his first 73 games. He seemingly flipped a switch in early July, slashing .372/.442/.557 with five home runs, 15 doubles, 18 steals on 22 attempts and a 17.3 K% in 44 games across Double-A and Triple-A before getting the call at the end of August. Dominguez took Justin Verlander deep on his first swing as a big leaguer and tallied four home runs and one steal in his first eight games before suffering a torn UCL that required Tommy John surgery. This is where things get murky. The Yankees are saying Dominguez will require 9-to-10 months to recover, putting his return date in the June/July range. Riley Greene underwent the same procedure at roughly the same time (mid September) and is expected to be ready for Opening Day, although unlike Dominguez, Greene's surgery was on his non-throwing elbow. Bryce Harper made it back as a first baseman in less than six months after undergoing the procedure on his throwing elbow in November of 2022. It may indeed cost Dominguez the first half of 2024 if New York will not bring him back as anything other than a center fielder, but it's possible he will be ready to hit in games as early as Opening Day. He hit third in seven of his eight big-league games, which is an excellent indicator of how he will be used when he returns to the Yankees lineup. Dominguez has the tools to go 15-15, even in a half season.

Dominguez's career has been a bit of a roller coaster, and he doesn't turn 20 until February. One of the most highly-touted international signees of the past decade, Dominguez didn't meet expectations in 2021, albeit as the youngest hitter at Single-A. He responded positively, both in a return to Single-A (134 wRC+) and, most impressively, after a promotion to High-A, where he slashed .306/.397/.510 with an 18.5 K% in 40 games. Dominguez has plus bat speed and still runs well for his size (roughly 5-foot-9, 200 pounds), although the thunder in his bat figures to age much better than his foot speed. More concerning than his struggles (.467 OPS) in the Arizona Fall League are poor reports on his defense and makeup. He can look good in center field at times, but he can also be a major liability, and he shows a sense of entitlement that could become an issue if he goes through major struggles at Double-A. Dominguez has the talent to develop into a high-OBP middle-of-the-order run producer who chips in a handful of steals, but there is still a wide range of outcomes for the young switch hitter.

It was going to be hard for Dominguez to live up to the massive hype surrounding him in 2019 -- he got $5 million when he signed on July 2 that year, and ridiculous comparisons and tool grades were rampantly assigned to him before and after his signing. He was at least a 60-grade runner when he signed, and now he is a 50-grade runner. He was 5-foot-10, 190 pounds when he signed, and he is up to 5-foot-10, 210 pounds at age 18, and it seems likely that he's either going to continue to add weight or have to work extremely hard to maintain his current weight. Dominguez still has an explosive bat, and while his .258/.346/.398 line at Low-A may not look great, he was above league average (105 wRC+) as the youngest hitter at at the level. He kept his head above water and improved as the season went on, so there's a chance he could be an average or even above-average hitter with plus power if he can cut down on his groundball rate (50.4%). The problem is, without impact speed -- and he figures to only get slower in the coming years -- there's actually not a very high fantasy ceiling for Dominguez, barring his hit tool reaching its 90th percentile outcome.

In the 18 months since Dominguez signed with the Yankees on July 2 as the crown jewel of the 2019 international signing class, he has yet to play in an official pro game, resulting in batting practice videos from his Instagram account being broken down like the 21st century equivalent of the Zapruder film. His bat speed is as ridiculous as his physique. He won't turn 18 until February and is listed at 5-foot-10, 190 pounds, but his arms and legs look disproportionately strong in a Popeye the sailor man kind of way. His aggressive weight lifting regimen shouldn't be seen as a positive for a player who was already strong for his age at 16, and the added mass lessens the likelihood that he will be a 30-plus steal threat in the majors. If he is able to show a solid approach against offspeed pitches, he should put up monstrous statistics in the lower levels of the minors while ascending up prospect rankings.

The super tooled up phenoms that populate the top of prospect rankings and inspire awe at what they accomplish in the majors before they are old enough to legally drink are coming from Latin America. They sign every year on July 2. Dominguez, the top player from the 2019 class, is more highly-touted than Wander Franco or Marco Luciano, the top J-2 signees from 2017 and 2018, respectively, when they were 16. He is a switch hitter with hypnotizing bat speed that already produces easy plus power and he is at least a plus runner. At roughly 5-foot-10, 190 pounds, Dominguez doesn't look like a 16-year-old, which is slightly concerning. If he continues to fill out his frame, he might start to look more like a linebacker than a center fielder. It's also possible that he was an early bloomer physically, and he won't get much bigger. If he maintains his speed, he could be a top-five fantasy pick in his peak seasons.