LAKELAND, Fla. — The last time Jasson Dominguez faced Justin Verlander, he was a 20-year-old making his major league debut. He hit a home run off the future Hall of Famer that night in Houston on Sept. 1, 2023, and the baseball world went wild.
On Thursday, Dominguez did it again. Same pitcher. Same result. Different uniform on Verlander, who is now back with the Detroit Tigers, but the same swing from the Yankees’ outfielder the scouts call “The Martian.”
Dominguez said he “of course” was thinking of that 2023 blast when he stepped in against Verlander this time around. And when the ball left his bat, he gave the Yankees front office yet another reason to rethink the club’s outfield plans for the 2026 season.
A spring that demands attention
The homer was Dominguez’s third of the Grapefruit League slate. Through 11 spring games, the 23-year-old switch hitter is batting .333 with two doubles, three homers and nine RBI. He has also stolen two bases.
Those numbers stand in sharp contrast to the player he may be chasing for playing time. Yankees center fielder Trent Grisham, who accepted a one-year, $22.025 million qualifying offer this winter, is hitting just .150 with a .377 OPS through his first 20 at-bats of the spring. He is striking out at a 31.6 percent clip.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone said he has been impressed with how Dominguez has handled the crowded outfield situation this spring.
“The easy answer is, yes, I am, but I’m also not surprised,” Boone said. “He’s good at life. He’s not an up-and-down person. He’s consistent. He’s a happy guy every day, and I think appreciative for a lot of things.”
The $22 million question in the Yankees’ outfield
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The Yankees brought back the same outfield core from 2025. They re-signed Cody Bellinger to a five-year, $162.5 million deal. Grisham accepted the Yankees’ qualifying offer. Aaron Judge remains in right field with Giancarlo Stanton slotted as the designated hitter.
That left almost no room for Dominguez, who spent most of the second half of last season in a reserve role. The Yankees have indicated he may start 2026 with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, a decision based on the scarcity of available at-bats rather than his talent.
But Grisham’s struggles this spring have thrown a wrench into the plan. Yanks Go Yard’s Stephen Parello raised the possibility of a shakeup that would push Grisham to a bench role.
“If the ultimate goal is to win a World Series, then the best players need to be on the Opening Day roster. Grisham’s status in that regard isn’t in question. The Yankees won’t eat $22 million just because of a lackluster spring. But is his job as the starting center fielder starting to rest on shaky ground?” Parello wrote.
He added that if Dominguez finishes the spring as the most impressive performer, the Yankees could move Bellinger to center, slot Dominguez into left and drop Grisham to the fourth outfielder spot.
The Yankees would be eating a lot of salary for a backup. Grisham had a career year in 2025, hitting .235 with 34 home runs and an .811 OPS. But he also posted a career-worst minus-11 defensive runs saved in center, and his postseason line of .138/.219/.207 raised fresh doubts about his consistency.
Dominguez keeps his head down
Dominguez entered camp knowing the odds were stacked against him. Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said in February that the young outfielder might be best served starting the year in the minors. But Dominguez refused to let the noise distract him.
“Obviously, I hear all of that, but I try not to focus on that,” Dominguez said. “I try not to focus on that, because there is a Spring Training coming and this is baseball. A lot of things can happen.”
The 23-year-old hit .257 with 10 home runs, 47 RBI and 23 stolen bases in 123 games with the Yankees last season. He finished the year on a tear, batting .458 with runners in scoring position over his final 33 games. That late surge hinted at what a healthy Dominguez could mean for the Yankees’ lineup.
“I just go day by day, trying to do my job,” Dominguez said after Thursday’s game. “At the end of the day, whatever decision comes out, I don’t control that. I just try to go day by day and then see what happens.”
The Yankees face a roster crunch with no easy answer
Spencer Jones, the Yankees’ fourth-ranked prospect, is another wild card in the Yankees’ outfield equation. The 25-year-old has been reassigned to minor league camp but hit .308 with three home runs during his time in big league spring training.
The Yankees must trim their roster to 26 players before their March 25 opener in San Francisco. Judge is away competing for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic, which means the lineup decisions will be finalized without their captain in camp.
Grisham is a veteran who earned his payday last season. Spring slumps happen. But with Dominguez hitting .333 and crushing Verlander bombs that echo memories of his electric 2023 debut, the Yankees are running out of reasons to send their young star back to the minors.
The $22 million the Yankees committed to Grisham made sense in November. Whether it still looks smart in March depends on what happens in the final two weeks of camp.
