Dominguez starting in left Tuesday, Verdugo takes a seat (2024)

When the Yankees at last brought top prospect Jasson Dominguez to the big leagues on Monday, manager Aaron Boone stated the obvious.

“Jasson’s going to play a lot,” Boone said before starting Dominguez in centerfield in what would be a 10-4 victory over the Royals at the Stadium.

The 21-year-old got the start in left – in place of incumbent Alex Verdugo – Tuesday night, the first start at what is expected to be his primary position the rest of the regular season.

“Certainly, Jasson being here impacts him,” Boone said of Verdugo before Tuesday night’s game.The outfieldon Tuesday from left to right wasDominguez, Aaron Judge and Juan Soto.

Dominguez went 1-for-4 with a run and a stolen base in Monday’s victory. He was batting seventh on Tuesday night.

Verdugo, of course, had been the Yankees everyday leftfielder this season, experiencing various levels of success. Most of that had been in the field, where he's played a solid and at times very good leftfield, while successes at the plate have been much less frequent.

Verdugo, who did go 2-for-4 with a homer Monday, entered Tuesday swinging the bat far better than he had been at any point in the year, other than the first three weeks when he got off to a good start. Verdugo, hitting .237 with 12 homers and a .659 OPS this season, is 18-for-54 (.333) with two homers in his last 15 games.

That resurgence the past two weeks delayed Dominguez getting the call to the majors. Dominguezbegan the seasonon the injured list rehabbing the UCL tear he suffered early last September after an electric eight-game debut to his big-league career.

Over the weekend in Chicago at Wrigley Field, GM Brian Cashman reiterated what Boone been saying since Sept. 1, when rosters expanded and Dominguez wasn’t included in the trio of call-ups: that Verdugo gave the club the “best chance to win” and that there currently wasn’t a path for Dominguez to play regularly.

That perspective, incidentally, wasn’t universally endorsed inside the organization, with more than a few believing Dominguez should have been called up, period.

Regardless, after the weekend in Chicago, the “lane” both Cashman and Boone have talked about for consistent playing time for Dominguez presented itself when DJ LeMahieu on Monday was put on the IL with a right hip impingement

“It’s important he (Dominguez) plays,” Cashman told Newsday’s DavidLennon before Tuesday’s game. “Aaron (Boone) has enough flexibility now that people can benefit. Like(Monday), (Anthony) Volpe gets the day off and (Oswaldo) Cabrera plays short and that’s a benefit to him. And Judge gets off his feet at DH, so that’s a benefit for him and (Giancarlo) Stanton takes a day yesterday. We have a lot of talent that we can run out there and now maybe people can benefit to stay fresh as we enter hopefully the postseason.”

Boone said he spoke with Verdugo about his role going forward, though he declined to get into specifics.

“Again, the role’s a little bit fluid,” Boone said. “We had a conversation, but that’s about as far as I’ll go with it.”

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Verdugo struck the right tone.

"He's going to come up here, he's going to play, he's going to help this team win," Verdugo said. "Whatever that means, that means, right? If I lose a little bit of playing time, I lose a little bit of playing time. At the end of the day, I want to win. The only thing that matters is getting to the playoffs and winning there.”

Multiple rival scouts assigned to the Yankees’ system have said for weeks that Dominguez, whose rehab suffered a setback earlier in the summer when he sustained an oblique injury, looked “more than ready” for the majors. Those same scouts, however, noted Dominguez didn’t look quite as sharp defensively.

“Probably still not a finished product,” Boone said of Dominguez on defense. “But certainly, the ability to play in the middle of the diamond as a centerfielder, not everyone has that ability. I think there’s still room for him to grow in that area, but his athleticism, speed, he’s very capable of playing anywhere out there.”