It would not be September in the Bronx if there was not a bit of Yankees drama to go around, would it? That’s certainly the case this year, where potential controversies around the closer role and the crowded starting rotation are being drowned out by one topic in particular, loudly and clearly: the decision to stick with left fielder Alex Verdugo rather than call up star prospect Jasson Dominguez (aka ‘The Martian’) as the team tries to win the AL East and ready itself for the playoffs.
Now, a report from MLB insider Jon Heyman of the New York Post suggests that many within the Yankees organization wanted to bring up Dominguez and give him a shot at replacing Verdugo, but that those voices were pushed aside because, ultimately, it is the call of GM Brian Cashman and manager Aaron Boone.
And they want Verdugo.
In a column titled, “Aaron Boone’s and Brian Cashman’s surprising faith in Alex Verdugo led to Yankees’ divisive Jasson Dominguez decision,” Heyman wrote:
“Boone mentioned a pre-September ‘conversation’ among Yankees higher-ups about whether to promote Dominguez, and insiders say it was a very spirited dialogue, with multiple executives strongly arguing for promotion, obviously unsuccessfully.
“It isn’t that Cashman and Boone aren’t huge fans of Dominguez, who’s hitting .310 with an .870 OPS in the minors. They are. The Martian was held out of trade talks for Blake Snell and even for Juan Soto. The issue is Cashman and Boone seem to have surprising, outsized confidence in Verdugo.”
Yankees Media & Fans Calling for Jasson Dominguez
Heyman, and many in the Yankees media, are pressing for the call-up of Dominguez, and certainly there is logic to that. Dominguez has fought his way back from Tommy John surgery last year, and from an oblique injury this year. He is batting .313 at Triple A Scranton-Wilkes Barre, and has a .371 on-base percentage and a slugging percentage of .497.
Verdugo is a veteran, with eight years in the big leagues and a bit of postseason experience under his belt—he played 11 playoff games with Boston in 2021, including two hits and three RBIs to help beat the Yankees in that year’s wild-card game.
But now, Verdugo is batting just .235 on the season, a career worst, with an OPS of .652, also a career worst. That has him on the outs with fans and media. He is hardly the only Yankee to be struggling at the plate, but he is the only Yankee who is blocking Dominguez’s path to the majors.
Alex Verdugo Has Been Hot Since Batting-Glove Change
Verdugo has a well-earned reputation as a quirky, and sometimes off-putting-personality. The Red Sox were happy to be rid of him last offseason. He was the subject of some derision when, in late August, he claimed that he had been hindered by an allergy to his batting gloves—though other players told NJ.com they’d experienced the same problem.
Since the Franklin company sent Verdugo new batting gloves, made without some of the irritants that were causing sores and irritation on his hands, Verdugo has caught fire, with hits in 10 of his last 11 games and a .342 average in that stretch. He has raised his batting average nine points in that time.
Verdugo did catch flak on Wednesday, when he failed to run out a ground ball in the fifth inning of the Yankees’ loss to the Rangers. And so the Verdugo-Dominguez narrative persists.
Heyman wrote: “The slugger Dominguez carries the potential to make a scary lineup even scarier. The return of Giancarlo Stanton and prescient deadline pickup of Jazz Chisholm Jr. lengthened what at times degenerated into a two-superstar lineup, but Dominguez makes it a potential Murderer’s Row.
“Dominguez should be up. But in the meantime, a .650 OPS hitter needs to run out grounders.”
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