TAMPA — Jasson Dominguez walked into spring training knowing the odds were stacked against him. He responded by putting together one of the best camps of any player in Yankees’ history. It still was not enough.
The 23-year-old Yankees outfielder crushed the ball all March. He ran the bases with purpose and played the field with noticeable improvement. None of it mattered when the Yankees made their roster decisions on Friday.
For a fanbase that spent the entire offseason worrying about this exact outcome, the news landed with a familiar sting. Dominguez was headed to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, not the Bronx.
The writing was on the wall from day one of camp
The alarm bells started ringing in early February. That is when insider Jon Heyman reported the Yankees were likely to send Dominguez to the minors regardless of how he performed in spring training. Yankees fans pushed back hard, but the front office appeared to have its mind made up before the first pitch was thrown in Florida.
General manager Brian Cashman acknowledged early in camp that everyday at-bats would be in Dominguez’s best interest. Those reps were not going to come in the big leagues. Aaron Judge, Cody Bellinger and Trent Grisham were locked in as the starting outfield. Giancarlo Stanton was healthy and set to handle designated hitter duties.
The addition of veteran Randal Grichuk on a minor league deal sealed the deal. Grichuk, a right-handed hitter, fit the bench role the Yankees wanted better than the switch-hitting Dominguez. The club prioritized lineup balance over the young talent they had spent years developing.
A monster spring goes unrewarded
The Yankees officially optioned Dominguez to Triple-A on Friday, two days before breaking camp. The Yankees also optioned right-handers Kervin Castro and Yerry de los Santos, who were sent to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre as well.
Dominguez finished the spring hitting .325 with a .978 OPS, three home runs, 10 RBIs and three stolen bases across 14 Grapefruit League games. He even showed progress from the right side of the plate, going 3-for-12 with a homer as a right-handed hitter. His defense in left field was visibly improved from a 2025 season where he ranked near the bottom of the league. The Martian power too returned echoing his 2023 debut.
Manager Aaron Boone said the conversation was difficult but praised the way Dominguez handled it.
“[He took it] like a pro,” Boone said after a 3-1 win over the Orioles. “We had a good talk. Difficult conversation to have. One of the things that I told him is I’m proud of him, because he walked into this camp with all kinds of conversation around him and, ‘the option may be coming,’ if everything played out a certain way. It didn’t affect anything in the way he carried himself day in and day out, the way he worked.”
Roster construction questions grow louder
The decision has reopened a sore spot among Yankees fans. Many wondered all winter why the club did not create a clear path for Dominguez on the roster. The qualifying offer to Grisham brought back a left-handed-hitting center fielder who batted .234 in 2025. That blocked a player who already had 429 plate appearances at the big league level last season.
Dominguez slashed .257/.331/.388 with 10 home runs, 47 RBIs and 23 stolen bases in 123 games for the Yankees in 2025. His numbers from the left side were particularly strong. His 116 wRC+ as a left-handed hitter and 92.9 mph average exit velocity would have placed him alongside Corey Seager and Manny Machado if he had qualified for the leaderboards.
The flaws are real, too. His 63 wRC+ against left-handed pitching ranked 209th out of 240 qualified hitters last season. His minus-10 Outs Above Average in left field was dead last among regular left fielders. Those weaknesses gave the Yankees the justification they needed. But the counter from fans is simple: how does he fix those issues riding the bench or playing in Triple-A instead of getting big league experience?
Questions galore
The biggest question hanging over this decision is one the Yankees have never answered. Why did the front office not pave a clearer path for Dominguez by letting Grisham walk in free agency?
The qualifying offer brought back a left-handed hitter who batted .234 last season. Now the Yankees are stuck with a logjam of similar outfield pieces in Grisham, Dominguez and top prospect Spencer Jones, all fighting for playing time with no clear resolution.
The trade value of Dominguez and Spencer Jones has not moved. If neither Yankees prospect is getting dealt and neither is getting everyday at-bats in the Bronx, what was the point of keeping Grisham beyond injury insurance?
That opens the door to a bigger player development concern. Do the Yankees actually believe Dominguez can fix the two weakest parts of his game, his right-handed swing and his defense, after both have trended the wrong way for multiple seasons? And what about the mental toll of being sent down in favor of Grichuk, a 34-year-old who posted a minus-0.8 WAR last year? The Yankees front office has stayed silent on that side of it.
Dominguez was called “The Martian” as a teenager and has been in the Yankees system since 2019. He is still bouncing between the minors and the majors at 23. The Yankees need to either accept him for who he is right now or admit they misjudged the timeline. He may simply be a strong left-handed hitter with barely average defense. That is a useful player.
The optics sting, too. Dominguez played 123 games in the big leagues last year with this same Yankees roster. Replacing him with Grichuk’s right-handed bat does not fix the problems that existed then. He carried more hype than Anthony Volpe, Austin Wells, Ben Rice and Cam Schlittler combined, yet received the least favorable treatment. And the questions are only growing louder.
The Yankees believe starting in Triple-A is not a significant setback for Dominguez’s career. At 23, there is still time for him to become the everyday player the Yankees envisioned when they signed him. He could easily grow into a starter by his age-24 season in 2027. But for fans who watched him dominate all spring and still get sent down, the frustration is out. The fear they had all along just came true. And the questions are only getting louder.
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