In Thursday afternoon’s spring training tilt against the Philadelphia Phillies, rookie left fielder Jasson Dominguez severely misjudged a fly ball hit by Phillies infielder Edmundo Sosa to the warning track, seemingly trying to let it drop into his underhanded glove, but instead he missed the ball entirely.
The misplayed ball by Dominguez allowed Brandon Marsh to score all the way from first base before he finally got the ball in.
Officially scored as an RBI double for Sosa, better defense by Dominguez likely prevents Marsh from even advancing to second, let alone getting him all the way around and putting another runner in scoring position.
While the mistake by Dominguez was not nearly as egregious as the one on Sunday against the Detroit Tigers, it may be emblematic of a greater issues New York is about to face.
Dominguez is looking overwhelmed in left field, and while his bat is critical to the lineup this season, putting a young rookie in a position where he is going to struggle defensively is not the best way to get his career started from a mental standpoint.
Seen as a natural center fielder, playing the youngster in left gives the Yankees roster flexibility now and in the future if he’s able to master multiple outfield positions. But at a certain point, New York is going to have to weigh the benefit of trying to develop Dominguez in the long term while preventing issues in the outfield from costing them in regular season games.
Another potential intriguing situation is designated hitter.
Given the fact Giancarlo Stanton looks like he will be out for the foreseeable future, keeping Dominguez in the lineup while allowing him to practice in left field outside of actual game situations could prove to be the best-case scenario both now and moving forward.
In the small sample size of games the slugger played at the tail end of the 2024 season, Dominguez struggled in left as well.
He is beginning to prove his bat is too good to keep him at the Triple-A level, but New York cannot afford to have Dominguez continue to make errors once the games start counting.
How Aaron Boone handles this situation remains to be seen, but it’s safe to say he absolutely has a major decision on his hands.