Jasson Dominguez's Yankees Future is Becoming More and More Clear

New York Yankees outfielder Jasson Dominguez returned from the injured list earlier this month, and it has been awkward, to say the least.

Dominguez has been sharing time in right field with Spencer Jones and has generally been playing against left-handers, against whom he struggled mightily in 2025.

This year, though, Dominguez has shown considerable progress versus southpaws, going 8-for-21 with four doubles thus far in 2026.

But while Dominguez has shown strides in clearing up a major weak spot, his biggest deficiency still remains: defense.

It's genuinely hard to find a more uncomfortable-looking outfielder than Dominguez.

Last year, he labored in left field and misplayed countless balls. While Dominguez possesses tremendous speed, his agility and instincts in the outfield leave a whole lot to be desired, and he looks very stiff whenever he is tracking a fly ball.

That has still been the case in right field this season, and it was on full display again on Sunday when Dominguez botched a route on a fly ball that ended up falling in for an RBI ground-rule double during the eighth inning of a 4-1 loss to the Cincinnati Reds.

The Yankees certainly didn't lose the game because of Dominguez, and even if he had caught the ball, the runner at third base would have tagged and scored anyway.

But it was just the latest miscue in what has been a parade of errors for the 23-year-old defensively, and you have to wonder if he will ever be passable in the field.

The issue? Dominguez's bat isn't quite good enough to get around that just yet.

He's slashing .241/.279/.431 with a couple of home runs and five RBI over 62 plate appearances this year. It's an incredibly small sample size, so we obviously need to give Dominguez more time to flesh out his numbers.

But given how highly-touted Dominguez was as a prospect, you certainly would have expected more from him at the dish by now.

In 2025, the Dominican native slashed .257/.331/.388 with 10 homers and 47 RBI across 429 trips to the plate. Bad? Hardly. Eye-opening? Also no.

In fact, Dominguez was so ineffective down the stretch that he was benched late in the season and barely saw the light of day. Why? Because his only real value right now is in his bat and his baserunning, so if he isn't consistently getting on base, there really is no sense in playing him.

It seems pretty clear that the Yankees will have to choose between one of Dominguez or Spencer Jones moving forward. With Aaron Judge and Cody Bellinger both occupying outfield spots for the long haul, it's not realistic for New York to keep both young players.

Jones has his own issues. He strikes out a ton, and he is already 25 years old with incredibly limited big-league experience. But because he looks considerably more comfortable in the outfield than Dominguez (and possesses far higher potential as an offensive force), the Yanks may just have to roll with Jones.

The trade deadline is approaching, and the Yankees have some clear areas that need to be upgraded. They would almost surely want to avoid moving George Lombard Jr. or Carlos Lagrange. That could mean Dominguez and Jones might be on the block.

If it comes down to choosing between those two outfielders, New York might just decide to bite the bullet and part ways with The Martian, who has not come close to living up to his lofty expectations.

Remember: this is a player who was hailed as the next Mickey Mantle by some. He was called a five-tool player. Where that came from, I'll never know.

But you have to wonder if the Yankees are beginning to lose patience with Dominguez, who could end up involved in a trade package before Aug. 3.

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