TAMPA — Aaron Boone said on the primary day of camp that “when you can play outfield within the Grapefruit League, you’re in a fairly great spot.”
Through two games in left field this spring, the scoreboard reads: Grapefruit League 1, Jasson Domínguez 1.
The Yankees are giving Domínguez a protracted runway this spring to make the full-time transition from center field to left field, after his late-season experiment there last yr didn’t go well.
And while his first game there Friday was uneventful, Sunday was more of a challenge, partly courtesy of the weather.
Domínguez lost a ball within the sun throughout the Yankees’ 4-0 loss to the Tigers at Steinbrenner Field, and an inning later didn’t give himself the very best probability to get to a different ball within the gap after taking an inefficient route, though Boone said it might have been a success either way.
“There’s no reason he shouldn’t have the opportunity to handle left field,” Boone said after the sport. “We do like what we’ve seen these first couple weeks.”
Since he arrived in Tampa, Domínguez has been working with outfield coach Luis Rojas on getting more comfortable in left field, with the Yankees planning to make use of Cody Bellinger in center field commonly.
Boone said Sunday that configuration can be best because on days Trent Grisham comes off the bench to play center field (where he has won a Gold Glove), he doesn’t need to be bouncing Domínguez to left, preferring to maintain him in a single spot.
For that reason, Boone doesn’t necessarily plan on flip-flopping Domínguez and Bellinger occasionally this spring.
“I would like to offer it a full runway of [Domínguez] doing all his work,” Boone said. “If I even have to make a choice late — because I’m not frightened about moving Belly at any given moment. I don’t want to do this as much with Jasson.”
As an alternative, the Yankees need to keep running Domínguez on the market in left field, sunny afternoon skies and windy conditions be damned.
“He’s been working really hard,” Rojas said. “We’ve been attempting to simulate loads of the things that you simply’re gonna get, especially in spring training. There’s loads of various things here: You get the Florida wind, you get the Florida high skies, you get the Florida sun. There’s just loads of aspects which might be thrown at you straight away and we tried to simulate that for the last two or three weeks knowing he’s going to get it. Today he got the sun.”
Domínguez’s third inning began by snagging a sinking line drive off the bat of Hao-Yu Lee before Cole Keith skied the ball to left that Domínguez lost within the sun.
He did make a fast recovery after the ball dropped, finding it and firing to Anthony Volpe, who threw to the plate to nail a runner attempting to rating.
Within the fourth inning, Jace Jung hit a ball to the gap in left-center field that had an expected batting average of .740.
Domínguez had a protracted strategy to run before it dropped just a few feet behind him, but Rojas noticed some teaching points on the play.
“Watching it live, it gave the impression of he got away from his running form slightly bit towards the top,” Rojas said. “He was hanging his glove and among the things we discuss that may probably take a step or two getting closer to a ball — I don’t know what was the catch probability on that, nevertheless it’s definitely something we’re going to interrupt down and discuss. We intend to do this, whether he makes a play or not, to continue to learn the position. … He’s got great tools and we actually think he’s going to achieve success on the position.”
His teammates think so, too.
“His attention to detail is continuous to mature based off me catching glimpses of him through his work here and there,” Gerrit Cole said. “He’s maturing and recuperating. The proven fact that he’s unwavering in his approach through loads of what he’s been through, that’s what has me feeling confident.”
