Most of the discussion surrounding current American League Rookie of the Year favorite Jasson Dominguez has centered around whether his prodigious power can help the Yankees weather his left field growing pains. Perhaps people should be a bit more focused on another key element of his game, too.
Dominguez joined the hit parade last Tuesday in Clearwater, drilling a casual 103.9 mph home run to the opposite field that proved once more that he’s always a simple flick of the wrist away from making an impact.
But perhaps his most impressive contribution to the 12-3 blowout win came in the third inning, when he ignited a seven-run rally with a dribbler hit in Trea Turner’s direction.
The All-Star shortstop never really got a clean handle on the grounder, and his toss to first was seconds late. Of course, even a perfect transfer probably wouldn’t have caught Dominguez, who sprinted to first at a ridiculous rate of 30.4 feet per second, slightly faster than the average rate of superhuman racer Bobby Witt Jr. of the Kansas City Royals.
Yankees rookie Jasson Dominguez casually topped Bobby Witt Jr.’s average sprint speed in a spring training game
Of course, Witt’s peak speed is faster than his average … but, on the flip side, Dominguez matched and exceeded the Royals star’s average during spring training. It’s unlikely he was going unnecessarily hard to beat out a grounder where the throw was markedly late anyway. He’s just that fast.
Add Dominguez’s wheels to George Lombard Jr. and Spencer Jones tattooing Zack Wheeler (and Jones homering off his replacement), as well as Will Warren carving through the Phillies’ projected Opening Day lineup, and you have yourself one potentially meaningful Tuesday in a sea of meaningless contests.
Dominguez, freshly 22 years old, has afflicted the jaded among us with “prospect fatigue”. Rival fans will, of course, endlessly cite the hype from five years ago as a reason to look down upon his career to date, given the lack of Hall of Fame resume. Still, even the littlest moments, like last Tuesday’s sprint, show that his ceiling remains ludicrously high. While beauty might not be in the eye of Bostonian beholders, Dominguez has the talent to go from laughed at to underrated in the blink of those same frickin’ eyes.
