Yankees GM Brian Cashman indicates that Jasson Dominguez could begin season in minors, where he can play regularly
The Yankees' Jasson Dominguez reacts in the dugout before a game against the Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium on April 25, 2025. Credit: Getty Images/Elsa
TAMPA, Fla. — Jasson Dominguez may well be ticketed for the minors when the regular season begins.
Ever since the Yankees brought Cody Bellinger back into the fold in January, that possibility has been speculated upon, but no one with the club had said so publicly.
Until general manager Brian Cashman did on Friday.
“I would concede it’s in his best interest to be getting everyday reps,” Cashman said via Zoom.
And with the starting outfield set — Bellinger will be in left, Trent Grisham in center and Aaron Judge in right — the 23-year-old Dominguez isn’t going to get those in the major leagues.
The Yankees’ fourth outfielder spot is very much up for grabs, but on the surface, Dominguez isn’t a fit. The switch hitter is far weaker as a righthanded hitter than as a lefthanded hitter — he had slash lines of .204/.279/.290 batting righthanded and .274/.348/.420 batting lefthanded last season — and continues to be a work in progress in leftfield, where he struggled for much of 2025.
Dominguez, primarily a centerfielder as he came up through the minors, showed improvement in left, but not to the point that the Yankees feel entirely comfortable with him there.
Cashman lauded Dominguez’s athleticism and abilities on the bases (he stole 23 bases a year ago), but keeping him on the 26-man roster out of spring training as a pinch-running option and a once- or twice-a-week player doesn’t seem very realistic.
That means that barring spring training injuries to one of the starting outfielders or some of those vying for the reserve spot, one of the club’s most hyped prospects in recent years could be with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre come late March when the regular season begins.
“We’ll just have to wait and see how the spring shakes out, who’s standing,” Cashman said.
“And then we’ll make the appropriate decisions when we have our meetings close to the end of camp.”
Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.
