The Martian Has Landed: The Yankees Are Calling Up Their 20 Year Old Super-Hyped Prospect Jasson Dominguez
You wanna get nuts? Let's get nuts. The Yankees are officially in full "play the kids" mode and are not only calling up top catching prospect Austin Wells, but the goddamn Martian himself Jasson Dominguez. Wow.
While the news of Wells making his way to the big leagues is great (it was expected), the story here is Dominguez's arrival. The 20 year old, insanely hyped prospect has gotten the call just a little over a week since making his AAA debut. He was on a heater since his arrival in Scranton so they're using this time to see what he can do in the bigs as rosters expand.
Dominguez might not be the prospect we were originally sold when Passan unfairly compared him to Bo Jackson, Mickey Mantle, and Mike Trout (who possibly could), but he's pretty fucking good. Funny to look back at this graphic though.
While expecting him to be the greatest athlete of our time is probably misguided, he definitely has the tools to become a perennial All-Star and one of the more exciting Yankees to watch on a daily basis. There's pretty much nothing on the field he's incapable of doing. Strikeouts were an issue of his early on, but he's actually developed an awesome ability to control the zone over the years. He's night and day compared to how raw he looked when he debuted in 2021. Covid messed with his developmental clock a bit, but the Yankees sucking this bad in 2023 has allowed for this window.
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Now I know this difficult to ask, but we really gotta be patient here with Dominguez early on. Remember how Volpe struggled those first couple of months and look now at the strides he's made. This motherfucker was born in 2003. He didn't even played double digit games in AAA. Just enjoy the flashes you're gonna see in September, mostly ignore the struggles, and be happy we're getting this. For once they're doing a cool thing and giving a guy like him a look. This comes from Hal by the way, not Cashman. That shit comes from the tippy top of the org. The last time a young guy like played was Melky fucking Cabrera and he was nowhere near the prospect Dominguez is. They never call a guy up this early.
In September you're going to see Anthony Volpe, Jasson Dominguez, Oswald Peraza, Austin Wells, Everson Pereira, and Oswaldo Cabrera regularly in the Yankees lineup. It's hopefully a sign of a full-on youth movement that will force out the old vets in 2024.
It's what this team needs with the logjam of washed vets Cashman has assembled.. If there's going to be serious change it begins with playing the kids. September 2023 just went from a non-watchable period of Yankees baseball to borderline must-watch.
Friday against Justin Verlander in Houston, the Martian arrives. And Austin Wells!