Jasson Domínguez

Jasson Dominguez
(The Martian)

Bats Both, Throws Right
Height 5' 10", Weight 190 lb.

Debut September 1, 2023

Born February 7, 2003 in Esperanza, Valverde D.R.

Biographical Information[edit]

Outfielder Jasson Dominguez was signed by the New York Yankees as an amateur free agent on July 2, 2019 only a few months after he had turned 16. His signing bonus was $5.1 million, a record for an international signing. As a point of comparison, the Yankees' total international bonus pool that year was $5.4 million, so 95% of that went to Jasson. He was considered the top international prospect available during that signing period, and the New York, NY media immediately started hyping him as the next great Yankees player, with comparisons to Mickey Mantle as a switch-hitter with power, or Bo Jackson as an exceptional all-around athlete, or Mike Trout as the best baseball player currently. There were stories about his showing unbelievable power for a teenager and so on, which earned him the nickname "The Martian" as a reflection of his otherworldly talent. He became even more of a legend due to circumstances that delayed his professional debut, namely the COVID-19 pandemic, as he was unable to play in 2020 and was not even invited to hang around the Yankees' alternate training site. In spite of that, his stock as a prospect continued to rise: he was ranked #38 by Baseball America before the 2020 season, and had risen to #33 in 2021 on the strength of nothing other than having blown an extra candle on his birthday cake in the interim.

When he finally took the field, it was with the FCL Yankees in June of 2021. He hit .200 in 7 games and was quickly promoted to the Tampa Tarpons of the Low-A Southeast. Barely a month after playing his first pro game, he was elected to play in the 2021 Futures Game, where he was easily the youngest player. He ended up batting .258/.346/.398 in 50 games for Tampa, with 5 homers and 18 RBIs. It was nothing earth-shattering but wasn't bad at all for someone who was just about the youngest player in all of Low-A. He returned to the 2022 Futures Game. He spent that season with three different teams: Tampa; the Hudson Valley Renegades of the South Atlantic League; and the Somerset Patriots of the Eastern League for five games as one of the youngest players to appear in the circuit that year. He hit .273/.376/.461 in 120 games, with 92 runs and 59 RBIs. He hit 23 doubles, 7 triples and 16 homers and also stole 37 bases. He was one of the main stories of the Yankees' spring training in 2023, even if it was almost certain to start the year in AA, as Yankees fans were salivating at the thought that he would soon be in the team's regular line-up.

He split the 2023 season between AA Somerset and the AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, with 109 games in the Eastern League and 9 in the International League. In 118 total games, he hit .265/.377/..425 with 15 homers, 89 runs and 76 RBIs. He was called up to New York when rosters expanded on September 1st and was in the starting line-up against the Houston Astros that day, playing centerfield (the Yankees had just placed Harrison Bader on waivers to clear the spot for him). In a textbook debut, he homered off Justin Verlander in his first big league at-bat in the 1st inning, going to opposite field at Minute Maid Park with a man on base. He was the youngest Yankees position to make his debut since Stan Javier in 1984, the first Yankee to homer in his first at-bat since teammate Aaron Judge (who incidentally hit his 250th career homer in the game) and the youngest ever to do so. He added another homer in the Sunday Night Baseball game on September 3rd as the Yankees completed a three-game sweep of the Astros, proclaiming to the baseball world that he had arrived. He played his first home game on September 4th, going 1 for 4 against the Detroit Tigers, then hit homers in two of his next four home games in front of his new fans before some terrible new befell the team on September 10th as it was learned that he had torn the anterior collateral ligament in his right elbow. He required immediate surgery, ending his season immediately and likely putting him out of action for the first half of 2024 as well. He said the injury likely occurred during his third game against Houston and that he played through discomfort a few days before tests revealed the extent of the damage. In 8 games in pinstripes, he had hit .258 with 4 homers and 7 RBIs for an OPS of .980.

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