TAMPA – Sunny skies made for a picture-perfect day at George M. Steinbrenner Field as the Yankees hosted the Tigers on Sunday.
Unless you happened to be Jasson Domínguez, whose defensive concerns resurfaced thanks to two mishaps in left field. The first could be blamed on the hot glowing circle in the sky as Domínguez, wearing sunglasses and using his glove for extra shade, settled under a flyball before losing sight of it in the third inning.
Jasson Dominguez loses the ball in the sun, but the Yankees get the out at home pic.twitter.com/p5dScF3yOC
— Fireside Yankees (@FiresideYankees) February 23, 2025
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Aaron Boone recently said that the Florida sun would test the 22-year-old Domínguez, a prescient comment after the Yankees’ expected left fielder struggled at the position last season.
“He’s been working really hard. We’ve been trying to simulate a lot of the things that you’re gonna get, especially in spring training where you’re coming off an offseason,” Yankees outfield coach Luis Rojas said after a 4-0 loss. “You get the Florida wind, you get the Florida high skies, you get the Florida sun. Just a lot of factors that are thrown at you right away, and we’ve tried to simulate that for the last two, three weeks knowing that he’s going to get it.
“Today he got the sun early. We saw it. He did a good job getting on the ball early, and then the ball got in the sun. He just didn’t know what to do.”
The second poor play occurred in the fourth inning when Domínguez, running a sizable distance, couldn’t track down an Andy Ibáñez double in the left-center gap. Domínguez took a bad route on the run-scoring play, though Boone wasn’t sure a good one would have resulted in a catch.
“I doubt it,” the manager said. “That’s a long way. I’ll look at it more in a little bit, but I would say no.”
Rojas also wanted to review video. Watching in real-time, he felt Domínguez got away from his proper running form toward the end of the route.
“I don’t know what the catch probability was on that,” Rojas said, referring to a stat that wasn’t publicly available for the exhibition contest, “but it’s definitely something that we’re going to break down and talk about.”
¡Jasson Domínguez! 🤪 pic.twitter.com/cTUTXANhmi
— ⚾ La Tribuna Deportiva ⚾ (@eslatribuna) February 23, 2025
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Left field defense was a major focus for Domínguez over the offseason, as the natural center fielder made several blunders late last season as he failed to supplant Alex Verdugo before the postseason. Domínguez, who didn’t get many minor league reps in left last year due to injuries, spent a chunk of his offseason at the Yankees’ player development complex. There he worked on his reads and angles with Rojas.
“It’s a little different,” Domínguez said of left earlier in camp, “but I think it’ll be good.”
Domínguez did not talk after exiting Sunday’s game.
The Bombers have made it known that they plan on deploying Domínguez in left, a position that can be particularly challenging at Yankee Stadium, and that he’ll get lots of reps there this spring.
Newcomer Cody Bellinger has experience at the position, but he’s penciled in as the Yankees’ everyday centerfielder. Over the offseason, Boone explained that he would prefer to keep Domínguez in one spot. Bellinger, who can also play first base and right field, can move around as needed with Aaron Judge in right, Paul Goldschmidt at first and Trent Grisham providing center field defense off the bench.
On Sunday, Boone reiterated that he plans on giving Domínguez a “full runway” in left because he’s not worried about moving Bellinger at “any given moment,” should he need to. The skipper isn’t necessarily planning to flip-flop the two outfielders’ positions during games this spring.
“There’s no reason [Domínguez] shouldn’t be able to handle left field,” Boone said.
Rojas, meanwhile, described Domínguez as a “five-tool player.” While the coach admitted that The Martian is “still getting acclimated” in left, he added it’s “inevitable” that the young outfielder’s defensive skills will develop.
“We all know he’s got great tools, and we really, really think that he’s gonna be successful,” Rojas said. “What happened here today are just really good teaching moments for us and Jasson.”
