Jasson Dominguez Should Probably Go to Triple-A When Stanton Returns
- E.J. Fagan
- Jun 11
- 3 min read
By EJ Fagan
June 11, 2025
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NOTE: The following comes from EJ Fagan's substack page and is shared with permission. This was published a few days ago so the stats don't include the last few games.
Please check out EJ's substack page for more great articles.
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Giancarlo Stanton is about to start a rehab assignment. He can’t be more than a week away from returning to the major league roster.
Let’s assume for a second that the Yankees plan on playing him a lot against both lefties and righties. Let’s also assume that they aren’t yet ready to resolve their logjam with a trade, or that someone gets injured. What comes next?
I think there’s a very good chance that Jasson Dominguez gets sent to Triple-A. And it’s not a crazy idea, even if I hate it. Dominguez has had a moderately successful year so far, but with a few big time flaws:
A .730 OPS and .325 xwOBA overall are nothing to sneeze at, and his .280/.370/.458, .346 xwOBA against righties is excellent. He deserves a spot in the major leagues.
But, baseball isn’t fair. The important questions aren’t whether it is fair to Dominguez to play him in the majors, but:
What is best for the 2025 Yankees?
What is best for Dominguez and the Yankees over the long term?
I think both questions lead to Dominguez being sent to Triple-A.
Let’s start with the short-term. Despite being a respectable hitter, Jasson Dominguez has been worth just 0.5 fWAR in 2025, or slightly below league average. His defense has been really bad by pretty every metric and my own eye test. Fangraphs has him as the 25th worst qualified defender in 2025.
Those runs allowed count just as much as the runs Dominguez helps to score. He has the raw speed to be a good outfield defender, but for whatever reason has not been comfortable in left field. The best Yankees have a plus outfield defensive alignment when running Bellinger-Grisham-Judge, but a pretty mediocre one with Dominguez-Grisham/Bellinger-Judge.
They also have an extra left-handed hitter. As much as I would like to see it, the Yankees are in no rush to sit Paul Goldschmidt against most right-handed starters. Ben Rice and Dominguez are thus competing for limited DH starts, and Stanton is about to take a lot of right-handed pitching starts. The opportunity cost of losing Dominguez’s bat is small.
The big short-term downside to sending him down is that the Yankees would suddenly be short a bench outfielder. If Judge DHs, then you’re looking at Reyes or Peraza in the outfield. Maybe they swap Reyes for a true bench outfielder.
And I think sending Dominguez down has long-term benefits. He will get to play every day, including against left-handed starters. He’s too talented to play twice a week.
Maybe Dominguez could use the opportunity to ditch switch hitting. Either way, he has a lot to work on against left-handed pitching, but the Yankees can’t really give him the opportunity to work on it in the majors.
He could also work on defense in left field. Dominguez might slot back into center field if/when Bellinger and Grisham leave the team, but for now he just looks uncomfortable in left. He needs low pressure reps.
Finally, I think Dominguez’s ability to control the strike zone has suffered a bit in the majors. He’s taking a lot of walks, but his whiff%, chase rate and square up rate are awful. Those aren’t the end of the world, but Dominguez has a lot of room for improvement.
For the record, I hate it. Jasson Dominguez is a fun and athletic player that will be a part of the future core of the Yankees. I am not looking forward to watching a Yankees lineup that is suddenly much older and slower with Stanton and LeMahieu. I wish that the Yankees would go the trade route or just permanently sideline Stanton. But they could still do both in a month, while giving Dominguez some development time in Triple-A. He’s still just 22 years old.
It would be a bad idea sending Dominguez back to the minors. When Stanton comes back just DFA Pablo Reyes. I would platoon Stanton and Rice at the DH spot.
We are still talking about how good Grisham has been this year? He hasn’t hit much since the calendar left April.
Sorry, but that makes no sense. He is developing as one would expect. Progressing in the field, getting more reps right handed. Essentially playing 5 games a week on a first place team. I seriously doubt it. I see Reyes packing his bags when Stanton returns. He is dead weight.
i MUCH prefer to see JDom left in the MLB, but I can imagine a scenario for moving him down that is not completely terrible. my biggest fear is that they would play him strictly in CF at AAA. that would be wildly stupid. if he goes down he needs to play 9 innings every day and all of them in LF
i posed a theory recently about WHY he is struggling so much to move to LF. can someone correct me if i am wrong, but I believe when the Yankees signed him either he has VERY recently made the move to the OF, or there was still uncertainty about what position to play him at. I believe th…
Right now, because of the lineup protection Trent Grisham is getting, essentially either Dominguez or Rice start that day's/night's game on the bench. When Stanton comes back, potentially both will start every game on the bench, which is not good.
Based on the above, why not send both down, just to make sure they see regular game ABs? The biggest problem with sending either or both down, is that Cashman & his gang are going to have to release a veteran or two from SWB's roster, even if you promote either Pereira or Brian De La Cruz to be the true backup OF in the Bronx. I'm talking about guys like Jose Rojas, Jake Gatewood, Ismael Munguia, and Alex Jackso…