The New York Yankees remain mum on whether or not outfielder Jasson Domínguez will be one of the team’s two call-ups when Major League Baseball’s rosters expand from 26 to 28 players come Sunday, September 1.
“I don’t know. We’ll see,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone told reporters (including The Athletic’s Chris Kirschner) on Friday ahead of New York’s game against the St. Louis Cardinals. “We haven’t made that decision, so I don’t know.”
Domínguez, 21, performed well during an eight-game debut stretch last season before suffering an elbow injury that required Tommy John surgery. He batted .258/.303/.677 (157 OPS+) with four home runs and seven runs batted in. Domínguez returned to game action in May, but missed additional time because of an oblique injury that sidelined him for more than a month. In 48 total minor-league games this season, he’s batted .309/.366/.489 with eight home runs and 27 runs batted in across three levels.
Even so, Domínguez has been limited to one big-league game this season, with that coming as the designated 27th player in the recent Little League Classic. He went 0 for 4 in that game.
It stands to reason that Domínguez could provide an offensive boost over veteran Alex Verdugo, who entered Friday with an 83 OPS+ on the year. Still, the Yankees have some variables to consider, including the possibility of preserving his rookie status into next season. As MLB’s Bryan Hoch tweeted, Domínguez is 95 at-bats away from losing that rookie status — if he keeps it into the 2025 season and then wins the Rookie of the Year Award, the Yankees would be in line to receive a draft pick.
Whatever the Yankees do or don’t do with Domínguez, they figure to use the other roster expansion spot to activate first baseman Anthony Rizzo. He has not played since June 16 on account of an arm fracture.
