The arrival of "The Martian" in New York is finally here, after years of hype.
Six years of hype, to be exact. The Yankees have been grooming the player whose other-worldly skills earned him the nickname El Marciano, or The Martian--outfielder Jasson Dominguez--for six years now. The Bombers signed him as a 16-year-old in 2019, when the team used a record $5.1 million of its bonus money (out of $5.4 million) to get Dominguez to sign.
But the early returns on Dominguez have been iffy. He slogged through an injury-dinged 2023, when he rose from Double-A Somerset to brief stints in Triple-A and into the majors, where he hit .258 with four homers in eight games in September before suffering an elbow injury that required Tommy John surgery.
Last year, he struggled with injury as he came back after the surgery, but hit well in the minors, with a .314 average and an .880 OPS. That led fans to call for Dominguez to be brought up to the Yankees to replace Alex Verdugo, but Domginuez batted just .179 in 18 big-league games.
This spring, he is batting only .229 with 10 strikeouts in 35 at-bats. Worse, he has shown signs of being a disaster with the glove in left field.
In assessing the Yankees' potential trade pieces as they deal with several big holes in the roster, the Post's MLB insider Jon Heyman noted that New York does not want to trade Dominguez--which is fine for most teams, because, Heyman reports, his stock is dropping fast.
"The Yankees wouldn't even talk about Jasson Domínguez in (Juan) Soto talks with San Diego, and while Domínguez's stock may be down after his rough spring in left field followed his rough late-season call-up, the Padres aren't believed that enamored, anyway," Heyman wrote.
That's a rough assessment for the player ranked as the team's top prospect -- especially when the need for a trade is quickly increasing.
