Domingo Germán

Domingo Germán Polanco

Bats Right, Throws Right
Height 6' 2", Weight 175 lb.

Debut June 11, 2017

Born August 4, 1992 in San Pedro de Macoris, San Pedro de Macoris, D.R.

Biographical Information[edit]

Pitcher Domingo Germán became a member of the Miami Marlins organization when he signed with the then Florida Marlins as a 17-year-old in 2010. After a couple of seasons spent in the Dominican Summer League with the DSL Marlins he moved to the United States in 2012, with the GCL Marlins, where he went 2-0, 1.61 in 13 relief appearances. He was turned into a starter in 2013 and dominated the Gulf Coast League again, this time with a record of 3-0, 1.38 in 5 starts, earning a promotion to the Batavia Muckdogs of the New York-Penn League. He continued to shine there, going 2-3, 1.76 in 8 starts. In 67 innings between the two clubs, his ERA was a sparkling 1.61 and his K/W ratio an equellay impressive 61/10.

Domingo continued his ascension in 2014, with the Greensboro Grasshoppers of the South Atlantic League. he started the year with a bang, going 8-3, 2.93 in 18 starts during the first half to earn an opportunity to pitch in the 2014 Futures Game. On December 19, 2014, he was traded to the New York Yankees along with Nathan Eovaldi and Garrett Jones in return for Martin Prado and David Phelps.

He reached the majors for the first time in 2017, making 7 relief appearances for the Yankees and going 0-1, 3.14. He had made another 5 relief outings for the Yanks early in 2018 when he was tabbed to make his first career start on May 6th, filling in for an injured Jordan Montgomery against the Cleveland Indians. It was a beauty, as he pitched 6 hitless innings, walking 2 and striking out 9, before leaving after having reached his pitch count limit. The game was still scoreless at that point, however relievers Dellin Betances and Jonathan Holder gave up 4 runs over the next two innings, but the Yankees managed to score 3 in the bottom of the 8th and then 4 in the 9th off Cody Allen and Dan Otero, a comeback capped by a walk-off three-run homer by fellow rookie Gleyber Torres off Otero. With Montgomery undergoing season-ending surgery, German began to take a regular turn as a starting pitcher, but results were poor at first, as he gave up at least 4 runs in each of his next 4 starts, losing three of them. He finally recorded his first win on June 14th, when he allowed 3 runs in 6 innings in defeating the Tampa Bay Rays, 4-3, thanks once again to Torres, who hit a three-run homer to propel the Yanks to a come-from-behind win. He finished the year at 2-6, 5.57 in 21 games, including 14 starts. He struck out 102 batters in 85 2/3 innings.

It was a different story in 2019, however, as this time he took full advantage of being a fill-in starter, having an outstanding first month. On May 10th, he defeated the Tampa Bay Rays, 4-3, to record his 7th win, tops in the majors at that point. He won his two next starts as well and was 9-1, 2.60 on May 21st, then was winless in his next three starts, giving up 14 runs in 18 2/3 innings and coughing up 7 homers as his ERA rose to 3.86. On June 9th, he was placed on the injured list with a hip flexor injury, an injury that had apparently been bothering him for a few weeks already and was behind his recent struggles. His stay on the injured list was short, as he returned on July 3rd, and on July 12th, he was selected to start the Yankees' first game against the Toronto Blue Jays. He pitched 6 scoreless innings in a 4-0 win, improving to 11-2 on the year. In September, he was moved to the bullpen in order to limit his innings before the postseason, but on September 19th, that likely became a moot point as the Commissioner's office placed him on administrative leave following allegations of domestic violence, likely resulting in his not pitching again for a while. He was leading the team with a record of 18-4, to go with an ERA of 4.03. According to unconfirmed news reports, the domestic violence incident under investigation had taken place at his home and involved his long-time girlfriend, with whom he had a child. On September 25th, the leave was extended by MLB until the end of the postseason.

On January 2, 2020, MLB issued its ruling: a suspension of 81 games. With those he had already missed, he would have to sit out the first 63 games of the season. Then, the coronavirus pandemic intervened, shortening the season to 60 games, meaning there was no way he would be able to pitch until 2021, although he could have been eligible to pitch in the postseason, as he had already missed the 2019 one. He took it hard, sending a message to his fans on July 17th stating, in Spanish: "I'm done with baseball. Thanks everyone". Immediately, reporters started speculating that he was retiring, but he corrected this with another message a few hours later, explaining that he was frustrated at not being able to be with his teammates this season, and that "Baseball is my life and I promise I am not walking away." After a strong spring, he finally made his return to the mound on April 4, 2021, when he started the Yankees' third game of the season against the Toronto Blue Jays. He went only three innings, giving up 3 runs on a pair of homers by Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Randal Grichuk and was charged with a 3-1 loss. In his second start on April 10th, he lasted 4 innings and gave up another pair of long balls, to Austin Meadows and Randy Arozarena, and was charged with another loss, 4-0. After the game, he was sent down to the team's alternate training site. It was only a brief absence as he returned on April 22nd, when he picked up his first win of the season, 6-3 over the Cleveland Indians, after which he took his regular turn in the starting rotation. Within a month, he had improved to 4-2, 3.05 with a win on May 20th, but he then hit a prolonged hard patch, as did the Yankees as a team, as he failed to win any of his next 7 starts while his ERA rose to 4.50. On July 7th, he had a memorable day, although maybe for the reasons he would have liked, as he was pulled from a scheduled start on the road against the Seattle Mariners because he had to undergo an emergency root canal treatment. He then became a poster boy for the wonders of modern dentistry when he was still used in the game, pitching 3 innings in relief during which he struck out 5 batters in a 5-4 Yankees win. He finished the season at 4-5, 4.58 in 22 games, including 18 starts, logging 98 1/3 innings. He did not see any action in the postseason as the Yankees made a quick exit, losin the Wild Card Game to the Boston Red Sox.

2022 was a frustrating season for Domingo as he could only make 14 starts in 15 games at the major league level after being out of action until July 21st due to right shoulder impingement syndrome. The Yankees had had a tremendous first half in his absence but found the going a lot tougher after the All-Star break, and as a result he finished at 2-5 in spite of a decent 3.61 ERA, good for an ERA+ of 108. He finally got to make his postseason debut in Game 3 of the ALCS against the Houston Astros on October 22nd. He pitched the final inning of a 5-0 loss, allowing a pair of walks but no hits.

He was healthy at the start of 2023, which was a good thing because three projected starting pitchers for the Yankees - Carlos Rodon, Frankie Montas and Luis Severino - were not. He had a great start against the Minnesota Twins on April 15th to earn his first win of the season, being perfect through the first five innings before allowing a single to Christian Vazquez with one out in the 6th. He eventually gave up a run on the 7th and was replaced by Michael King but earned credit for the 6-1 win. The game was marked by some extra-curricular controversy, as the Twins were convinced that he was using a foreign substance of some sort and asked the umpires to check him out twice, but they found only rosin, which is allowed, on his hands, leading to the ejection of Twins manager Rocco Baldelli. On May 1st, he pitched one of the best games of his career against the Cleveland Guardians - but ended up with nothing to show for it. Through the first eight innings, he had only given up a single and a walk, and had a 2-0 lead with a pitch count in the low 80's. After one out in the 9th, however, he gave up a single to Steven Kwan and manager Aaron Boone decided to take him out of the game and replace him with Clay Holmes, but everything fell apart as Holmes loaded the bases, then gave up a two-run single to Josh Naylor and his successor, Wandy Peralta, walked in the winning run with two outs for a 3-2 Cleveland win. On May 16th, he got off three perfect innings in a start against the Toronto Blue Jays, then was ejected by umpire D.J. Reyburn just before the start of the 4th inning for having a sticky substance on his pitching hand. As had been the case with similar offenses by other pitchers, this resulted in a ten-game suspension for German. On June 28th, he threw the 24th perfect game in major league history, and the first since 2012, when he defeated the Oakland Athletics, 11-0 at the Oakland Coliseum. He set down all 27 batters in order while striking out nine - one of which was the 500th of his career - and needed just 99 pitches. It was also the first no-hitter in the majors that season, and the fourth perfect game in Yankees history (the previous one was authored by David Cone in 1999). One bizarre footnote: it was the first perfecto thrown by a pitcher with a single-digit uniform number; what's more, it was the rarely-issued #0. Before that historic start, Germán had allowed 7 or more runs in each of his two previous starts in what had been a roller-coaster season. He continued to struggle after the masterpiece, going 0-2 in five July starts with an ERA of 5.27. On August 2nd, it was announced that he had voluntarily entered an inpatient facility for the treatment of alcohol abuse; he was immediately placed on the restricted list.

Notable Achievements[edit]

AL Winning Percentage Leader (2019)
15 Wins Seasons: 1 (2019)

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Domingo Germán

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