Scouts ripping Yankees’ Jasson Dominguez’s AFL performance need to get real

After a season where Yankees super-prospect Jasson Dominguez shook off early struggles to become one of the most impressive (and patient) power bats at Low-A Tampa before ascending to High-A Hudson Valley and dismantling the level, the slugger tried to parlay his late-season Double-A promotion into the postseason Arizona Fall League.

A space for All-Stars and future stars, Dominguez and the Yankees clearly agreed that the AFL spotlight could be good for getting him a few more at-bats after the 2020 season was taken off his plate, at the very least. Odds were still good he wouldn’t be in play for the big-league Yankees until 2024, but hey, any bit of additional preparedness is good preparedness.

Plus, after such a strong season at age 19, there was nothing Dominguez could really do to tank his own value. But don’t tell that to Randy Miller, who never met an anonymous scout unwilling to trash a vaunted prospect he didn’t like!

Dominguez scuffled in the Arizona Fall League, failing to homer in 80 plate appearances while batting just .159. Though he earned a spot in the Fall Stars Game on name only, the difficult capper on the top prospect’s campaign didn’t tarnish his .306/.397/.510 tenure at Hudson Valley in the eyes of many — except for in the eyes of those explicitly seeking to tarnish it!

According to Miller and a “scout,” Dominguez’s disappointing end to the season was warranted, due to the dreaded “lack of hustle” he displayed yet again.

Jasson Dominguez struggled in Arizona Fall League, but zero need for grand referendums on the Yankees star

Per Miller:

Yankees five-tool prospect Jasson Dominguez had quite a season jumping from Low A to High A to Double A. The 20-year-old Dominican switch-hitter put on a show at the Futures Game blasting a long homer at Dodger Stadium and was the hitting star of the Somerset Patriots’ Eastern League championship run with a .450 average, three homers and 10 RBI in five games.And now for the cherry on top …Well, it’s been a little sour because Dominguez hit just .159 with no homers in 20 games facing other blue-chip prospects in the Arizona Fall League, which wrapped up its season this week. Of course, Dominguez was one of two 19-year-olds in the AFL, so he faced more polished players.However, it doesn’t take experience to hustle, and according to a scout who’s been watching Dominguez in Arizona, running hard to first base on groundballs hasn’t been in his repertoire. Scouts who watched Dominguez the two seasons in A-ball have echoed the same thing.

Considering Randy already has me blocked, allow me to say: Grrrroooooooooowwwwwwwww uppppppppppppppp.

No, this isn’t the first time we’ve heard such a take this year. Still waiting to hear such a take from anyone other than Miller, though! Or Miller being used as a scout’s conduit.

It takes a special type of person to begin an article discussing how Dominguez was the hitting star of a Double-A team’s postseason title run at just 19 years old, then pivot only one paragraph later to his more recent struggles while also accusing him of dogging it.

It would’ve been nice if Dominguez had dominated in 2022’s postseason showcase after tackling Low-A, transforming himself at High-A, and hitting his stride during Double-A Somerset’s title plunge.

Sadly, he scuffled after racking up 451 regular-season at-bats and 20 in the postseason during his first year of full-season baseball. He scuffled just enough to get one more “lacks hustle” take out there before 2023, even though it’s best for both the Yankees’ long-term success and short-term trade dealings if he’s accurately perceived entering the offseason.

Oh well!