The 2025 season will likely be the rookie campaign for the New York Yankees’ top prospect, Jasson Dominguez.
Nicknamed “The Martian”, Dominguez will be turning 22 years old in February and is expected to be a mainstay in the Bronx for years to come. Although he dealt with injuries over the past two seasons, the switch-hitting phenom has shown flashes of brilliance in his brief major-league cameos.
However, as Dominguez looks to take the next step, a crucial question needs to be answered: where will he play in 2025? Of course, this is not referring to a team (the Bronx Bombers have outright put him off-limits in trade talks), but rather his place in the outfield.
The answer to that question is dependent on the Yankees’ offseason activity and their additions to the outfield, especially if they retain Juan Soto.
Dominguez is considered to be a natural center fielder; last season, Aaron Judge became the Yankees’ full-time center fielder to accommodate the arrival of Soto, who plays right field. Judge is a natural right fielder, so if Soto ends up signing elsewhere, the Bronx Bombers can simply move their captain back to his regular outfield spot while Dominguez can take his place in center.
But what if Soto stays? In that case, either Judge or Dominguez would need to learn a new position: left field.
During Dominguez’s stint in the majors last year, the Yankees tried playing him in left field; the highly-touted prospect looked uncomfortable in that position and struggled to track balls hit to him, which resulted in routine outs turning into extra-base hits. Granted, Dominguez will have the time to learn the position during the offseason (he spent the 2023-24 offseason recovering from Tommy John surgery), but he might be moved back to center field in the long run due to Judge’s age.
Although Judge didn’t have any errors in center field (until an infamous drop in Game 5 of the World Series), he was worth -5 outs above average with a -3 fielding run value while playing the position last season; this means Judge doesn’t have the required range to get to balls that other center fielders would normally get to. Additionally, the two-time AL MVP is entering his age-33 season, while some of his speed was compromised due to a toe injury he sustained in 2023. With that in mind, Judge probably won’t be able to play the position for much longer, on top of already being better suited in right field.
The most logical solution would be to move Judge to left field while having Dominguez play center, as the youngster has the speed and range to bring in difficult-to-get balls. However, that would also mean teaching Judge a new position, as he has very little experience in left. No matter what happens, either Dominguez or Judge will not be in their natural positions.
Even with the mixed results from his 2024 cup-of-coffee, Dominguez is clearly ready to play in the majors. But if the Bronx Bombers manage to retain Soto (or get a different outfielder capable of playing center or right), they will have the conundrum of deciding where to deploy The Martian.
