What to do When Jasson Dominguez Returns from the IL
Jasson Dominguez has run into a ton of bad injury luck since his debut for the New York Yankees. Not long after hitting a home run after his first at-bat in Houston against the first ballot Hall of Famer, Justin Verlander, the top prospect known as the Martian, injured his elbow on a throw. It was such an exciting debut for an otherwise lackluster 2023, and one of the best parts of it ended up getting taken away once Dominguez went on the shelf.
It felt like Dominguez hadn't been able to recapture what he had when he was first called up. In 2024, the Yankees opted for defense-first with Alex Verdugo. Then, last year, when it seemed like there could be an opportunity for him, Trent Grisham ended up taking off.
2026 was supposed to be another year in which he had his opportunity to really hit the ground running, and he had. Dominguez was hitting while also showing just how dynamic he was on the basepaths. Sadly, another injury has put his momentum on hold again after crashing into a wall earlier this week.
What to do when Dominguez returns
The Yankees showed their support for Dominguez by cutting Randal Grichuk and giving him some runway to succeed or fail, but, with him out, it's Spencer Jones who'll be taking his spot for now. The word around the Yankees these days is "urgency," so the question is what they should do with Dominguez once he's healthy enough to play.
The answer to that is reliant on two things, which, unfortunately, are out of Dominguez's control. This seems to be a theme in the early goings of his career.
The first has everything to do with Jones. Jones had a tough debut, facing Jacob Misiorowski. Misiorowski is one of the more electric pitches in baseball, and the first big league pitch he saw was 104 MPH. Credit to Jones for walking against him, but that's a night that they can just throw out the window for the time being.
If Jones takes off from here on out, the Yankees would be hard-pressed not to see what they have. On top of that, one of the big things he brings is centerfield defense, and the Yankees probably don't trust Dominguez's glove so much still. With Jones, there's an opportunity to really get Judge off of his feet, and have him at center, and Cody Bellinger and Trent Grisham taking the corners.
The next issue is on Giancarlo Stanton. The Yankees did cut Grichuk, presumably with the intention of having Dominguez stay on the roster once Stanton returns. It begs the question of whether the Yankees will find another version of Grichuk.
Stanton surely won't play every day. They'll want somebody in there on the off days. Does Dominguez get that role?
He probably should. After all these years, he earned a spot. It'll depend on how the Yankees are playing and who is playing well, which has been the theme of the year. Just ask Anthony Volpe.
Boone on Dominguez
However this shakes out, it's a bummer that this happened to Dominguez. Manager Aaron Boone mentioned as much after his young outfielder found himself on the shelf.
"Gosh, he's just such a good kid," Boone said. "There's a joy he kind of walks to every day, no matter what's going on. He's very consistent in who he is. They love him in there.
"We've talked a lot recently about just how well he's handled his situation here over the last four and five months. What's that shirt he wears? Be a Good Person (it reads on the front). He kind of embodies that the way he goes about it every day, no matter what's going on."
This article was originally published on www.si.com/mlb/yankees/onsi as What to do When Jasson Dominguez Returns from the IL.
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This story was originally published May 9, 2026 at 4:00 AM.