The New York Yankees’ signing of Jasson “The Martian” Dominguez as an amateur back in 2019 was immediately earth-shattering enough to inspire embarrassingly dramatic odes to his soon-to-develop talent. It was a neverending race to the loftiest heights of comparison warfare.
“He’s Mike Trout!” “No, he’s Mickey Mantle!” “Actually, he’s Shohei Ohtani — and a better pitcher!”
It was extremely tiresome. It was unfair to Dominguez during his development process, especially in a city that clicks in on projected peaks and never lets them go like New York. It also … may have made him underrated, in the end.
The Yankees’ rookie — still just 22 years old — is finding his rhythm in the month of May, starring prominently in many of the team’s most exciting moments. The defense remains a work in progress, but the offense has arrived in flashes that are growing longer by the week. Prospect fatigue set in for plenty of impatient watchers years ago, but if you stuck around, you got to see history made during a May surge.
Dominguez just became the first player in MLB history to hit three homers in a game, homer from both sides of the plate in one contest, mash a grand slam, and drill a walk-off homer all in the same month. Not a bad May, all things considered.
He’s not Mike Trout or Mickey Mantle, obviously. But, by this metric, he’s better.
Jasson Dominguez living up to lofty Yankees comparisons with history-making May streak
Technically, there’s still time for Trout to pile up a few more impressive feats before his career ends – but unless he figures out how to switch hit mid-stream, this one’s pretty much out of his reach.
Dominguez’s best course of action is to continue progressing, mixing in the occasional electric feat, while being obscured somewhat in Aaron Judge’s shadow. The Yankees have sneakily built themselves a very complete lineup. Dominguez has a chance to make it through a full season as a 22-year-old supplementary piece in a star factory with most eyes elsewhere, as long as he can keep the defense relatively stable.
May’s performance has certainly screamed that the sky remains the limit for him, even if he may want to rethink facing left-handed pitchers from the right side of the plate long-term (.298 against righties with five homers, .113 with only the history-making dinger from the other side).