00:00Joel Sherman here. My last full day in Tampa before I go to Arizona.
00:06Why don't we do three things today on Jason Dominguez, who's an interesting person in this camp
00:13and somebody whose chance to make the Yankees, if everyone stayed healthy, took another blow yesterday.
00:19Not because of anything he did, but the Yankees signed Randall Gritchick to a minor league contract.
00:26Gritchick is a right-hand hitting outfielder.
00:28It was kind of felt like one of the last things they wanted to add here.
00:32And so it removed another potential opening if Gritchick makes the team.
00:37And again, big ifs, and if the Yankees stay healthy from here on in.
00:40But why don't we start three things on Jason Dominguez by talking about the Martian.
00:47Jason Dominguez signed in 2019.
00:51He got almost the entire Yankee international bonus that year, $5.1 million of $5.4 million.
00:57It was the most they had ever given to an international free agent out of Latin America.
01:02And so, and he was nicknamed the Martian because he supposedly had otherworldly skills at such a young age.
01:11And he had comparisons to great players.
01:15And I think all of that was very, very bad for Jason Dominguez.
01:20Because I think Jason Dominguez probably has a chance to be a very good baseball player.
01:26He has real power that hasn't fully manifested in the major leagues.
01:30We've seen it.
01:31He has real speed, which we have seen manifest to some degree.
01:34He stole 23 bases last year.
01:36And he has a really good hitting eye from both sides of the plate.
01:40And he had about a 113 OPS plus from the left side last year.
01:45What doesn't he have?
01:47Even though he's a natural right-hand hitter, he has not hit well from the right side against lefty pitching
01:52in his brief major league career.
01:54And his defense isn't very good.
01:57You know, he started in center field in the minors.
02:00He moved to left in the majors.
02:02And he just does not show good instinct for playing the outfield.
02:09But is there a 20-homer, 20-steal guy who could get to somewhere near major league average?
02:14I don't think that's an impossible outcome.
02:16And if Jason Dominguez had never been nicknamed the Martian and had said,
02:21suppose, like, say, signed for $1.5 million or $2 million as just a decent prospect out of his home
02:29country,
02:29the Dominican Republic, and he was 23 years old and you thought a legitimate outcome was a 20-homer, 20
02:37-steal guy,
02:38you would say, wow, that's a pretty good signing out of the country.
02:42So I think that the expectations against expectations, he is always going to struggle,
02:49that the outcome possibility of being the Martian is so small.
02:55But of being a good player, it is not small.
02:58There's a real chance of it.
02:59Again, he just turned 23.
03:01So why don't we talk about number two, which is the bad thing that happened to him, I think, was
03:06being named the Martian.
03:07I think the really, really good thing was just as he stopped playing as a regular last year,
03:12the Yankees acquired Ahmad Rosario.
03:16I think that Dominguez stopped being a starting player for the best possible reason on a championship-caliber team.
03:24Somebody just outplayed him.
03:26Bellinger and Judge were the givens, and Trent Grisham hit a ton of homers, a ton of big homers.
03:33He could play center field.
03:34That moved Bellinger over to being pretty much a shutdown left fielder.
03:40And that left when Giancarlo Stanton played regularly as the DH, that left no at-bats at the end for
03:46Dominguez,
03:47and then he became a bench player.
03:49And Rosario was acquired from Washington at about that time.
03:54And to Dominguez's credit and to Rosario's credit, Dominguez became kind of like a puppy dog at Rosario's foot,
04:02following him everywhere.
04:03And Rosario is a worker.
04:06He is a guy, if you're ever at Yankee Stadium or early, before regular batting practice, Rosario goes out.
04:14I don't remember a time I went after his trade to the Yankees where he was not out on the
04:18field doing extra work.
04:19And the guy right next to him was Dominguez.
04:22And that was important.
04:24He needs to put in more work.
04:26He needs to show that he is serious about all this.
04:29And I think he did.
04:30I think that people would say they thought he was a good worker before Rosario and that that went up
04:35a grade.
04:36And the other thing to keep in mind, of course, is Rosario knows this pathway.
04:42Rosario, when he signed internationally with the Mets, was the largest international signing in their history out of Latin America.
04:50He was the kind of can't-miss prospect.
04:53He was in a group.
04:54And, you know, you could look back now and say, ha, like, not many of those guys turned out fully.
04:59But Andrew Benintendi, Yohan Mankata, Gleyber Torres, Dansby Swanson, that was his group.
05:04And he was right there among the best guys breaking in in 2017.
05:10He did that with the Mets.
05:11And it was never what they hoped for.
05:15It was sometimes good, but never great.
05:18And when they had a chance to trade out of it after the 2020 season,
05:22Rosario was a piece, along with Andres Jimenez and a couple of others, to get Francisco Lindor.
05:27And since then, he has kind of been a nomad and a utility man.
05:33He went from a can't-miss guy to that.
05:36He's been on seven teams in six years.
05:39He's been part of three late-July trades.
05:43Again, one of them to the Yankees last year.
05:45So he's often wanted for his skill set, which is he can play anywhere.
05:51Talk about a nomad.
05:52The only places he hasn't played on a diamond are pitcher and first base.
05:55And by the way, the Yankees have him working out just a tad at first base, just in case.
05:59And he would have done that even more if they wouldn't have signed Paul Goldschmidt back.
06:03But he knows this.
06:06He is from the same country, the Dominican Republic, as Jason Dominguez.
06:11And I talked to both of them about their relationship.
06:14And Rosario said, yeah.
06:15I told him I was you.
06:17And he said, don't let the window close.
06:20Keep working.
06:21Don't let the window close on you.
06:24And I love there's a thing that Jalen Rose, the basketball player, the Fab Fiver, says that I really think
06:31is great.
06:32He says, the best thing you can be in the NBA, but I think this goes for all sports, is
06:38a superstar, right?
06:39Then you're at the pinnacle of your sport.
06:41He said, the second best thing you could be is a veteran.
06:44And he said, the checks keep coming.
06:46You get to continue to live the life that everyone wants to live.
06:50And Ahmad Rosario has become a respected veteran.
06:53He brings energy.
06:56He brings qualities on the field.
06:58Again, hitting lefty pitching, enthusiasm, the ability to move all around the diamond.
07:02The Yankees, it was a priority to bring him back.
07:05And they did bring him back.
07:07And he's been good, again, for Dominguez, who lockers next to him in the locker room and is still kind
07:13of like that puppy dog following him around.
07:15And it is a good example.
07:17This is a hardworking guy who's figured out how to maximize a career that didn't turn out exactly as he
07:24wanted.
07:25And Rosario is still just 30 because he broke in so young, like Dominguez.
07:30Don't miss that.
07:31And that's where we'll go to number three.
07:33Dominguez just turned 23.
07:35He is a year and a half younger than Spencer Jones, who has zero major league plate appearances as opposed
07:42to Dominguez.
07:43The Yankees are trying to work on areas that Dominguez is short at.
07:49Luis Rojas, their first base coach and outfield coach.
07:53And by the way, a guy who knows Rosario well because they were both with the Mets for so long.
07:58He told me the Yankees deciphered that Dominguez's problem is he reads the ball off the bat poorly and though
08:08but would break because he thought it was off the bat he should break.
08:13And they were your skills, best skill is your closing speed on defense.
08:17So read where the ball is going and then go and you will close on it.
08:22And they think they've seen improvement there.
08:25Again, if he could be a 2020 player, can he get to average on defense?
08:33Average.
08:33Major league average in left field.
08:35He probably has the skill set for that.
08:37And I don't think it will be a death knell for him to go to AAA and see a lot
08:43of lefty pitching, which he would not in the major leagues, and see if he could get his right-handed
08:48stroke back.
08:48He is a natural right-hand hitter.
08:50He has to come a long way.
08:52It hasn't looked good in games.
08:57On Wednesday night, the Yankees faced the lefty starter.
08:59It was interesting.
09:00Rosario led off with a homer.
09:02Dominguez was the next batter and struck out.
09:04Again, they were together, and Dominguez still, in that game, didn't have great at-bats against the lefty.
09:10I think he had three in all.
09:12But I think there's a way for him to go to the minors.
09:17And work hard.
09:19Take the advice from Rosario.
09:20Don't let the window close.
09:22Make sure you stay ahead of Spencer Jones.
09:25There will be a moment.
09:26The Yankees get a call.
09:27Giancarlo Stanton doesn't stay healthy, usually for a whole season.
09:32Bellinger has a pre-existing back thing.
09:35Maybe Gritchick doesn't make the team, and Dominguez starts to hit better right-handed in the minor leagues.
09:41Make yourself the next call.
09:44Don't let the window close.
09:46Make sure that this terrific relationship you formed with Ahmad Rosario is fulfilled.
09:52And at some point, at the very least, if you don't become the Martian, become a veteran.
10:04Let's go.
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