Yankees' Anthony Volpe hesitance hints Jasson Domínguez is key to his return

Shoutout to the Jose Caballero truthers. Looks like you get at least one more day without worrying about Anthony Volpe returning to claim the New York Yankees' starting shortstop job. Now, we wait to find out whether that's because of Volpe's rehab progress or because of Jasson Domínguez.

Fans who spent all day waiting for a breadcrumb of any kind finally got a taste when Volpe was announced as a member of the Double-A Somerset Patriots' starting lineup Friday night (and rush down to the ol' ballpark to meet two-time Survivor winner Tony Vlachos!).

Volpe, who the team purportedly planned to give a "full spring training" to, has racked up 34 at-bats and hit .303 across two levels while working on a new swing. That's actually pretty close to the stated goal.

According to Aaron Boone's pregame scrum, Volpe will remain at Double-A through the weekend, at which point the Yankees will have another decision to make.

So ... while we wait ... what's up with Jasson Domínguez?

Randal Grichuk leaves Yankees, Anthony Volpe stays down amid Jasson Domínguez uncertainty

The Yankees already got burned once this week by sacrificing outfielder Randal Grichuk, who elected free agency rather than a minor-league assignment on Friday, mere hours before Domínguez was struck with an errant pitch. His elbow swelled up and he was due for further tests in NYC this week. So far, mum's the word there.

Either way, the Yankees don't want to promote Volpe, lose utility man Max Schuemann to Triple-A for 10 days before he can be recalled again, then find out Domínguez must be placed on the Injured List.

Given the team's apparent certainty that Volpe will be staying down all weekend, that seems to bode well for Domínguez? Either way, the slugging outfielder/DH won't be starting on Friday, with Ben Rice taking his place and Paul Goldschmidt sliding to first.

(UPDATE: After publication, the Yankees noted they hope to have Domínguez off the bench on Friday, and he'd resumed baseball activities pregame after his scans came back clean.)

For at least one more day, Schuemann is the Yankees' fourth outfielder, and Spencer Jones remains down on the farm. Ideally, Domínguez's elbow healed up a bit during the off day and he'll escape this unscathed.

Weirdly, Volpe's Double-A stasis might be more interesting than Domínguez's recovery at this point.

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