Why Yankees are putting up with Jasson Dominguez’s left field adventure: ‘Don’t need reminders’

This is why the Yankees are experimenting with Jasson Domínguez.

There have been several adventures in left field this spring, just like there were last fall.

He is a natural center fielder who is learning a new position, with more lessons ahead, and who only turned 22 last month.

The bat, the Yankees hope, will be worth any growing pains that surface in the field this season.

Thursday provided another reminder that Domínguez’s swing has a sky-high ceiling that has been hyped since his first day in the organization.

Jasson Dominguez rounds the bases after hitting a home run during the Yankees’ spring training game March 13.

“I don’t need reminding,” manager Aaron Boone said with a smile after a loud Domínguez afternoon in an 8-6 win over the Tigers at Joker Marchant Stadium. “He’s got that capability [of hitting well]. I think he’s got the ability to control the strike zone, hit with power to all places.”

Domínguez stepped to bat four times and did something notable in each.

There was a six-pitch walk against lefty Andrew Chafin, a strong plate appearance from the switch-hitting Domínguez’s weaker right side.

Jasson Dominguez misses a ball in the outfield during the Yankees’ spring training game against the Phillies on Feb. 27.

There was a seven-pitch battle against old friend Tommy Kahnle, who eventually got Domínguez swinging over his changeup.

There was a 105.7-mph rocket that nearly decapitated opposing pitcher Jackson Jobe in what became a hard-hit ground out.

And there was the fourth-inning at-bat against Jobe — the No. 5 prospect in all of baseball — in which Domínguez jumped on a changeup low in the zone and lifted it deep over the right-field fence for his second homer of a spring in which he started slowly and has found results in his past six games.

“He makes a lot of really loud contact,” was the scouting report from starter Max Fried. “Every time that he swings the bat, it’s aggressive from both sides of the plate.”

Jasson Dominguez is pictured during live batting practice for the Yankees on Feb. 19.

At the major league level, Domínguez showed flashes in his first taste in 2023 and little in his brief time last year, when he was coming off an oblique strain.

His lower-level play has demonstrated he has conquered minor league pitching.

Even in an exhibition season that does not matter, strong work against the likes of Jobe, Kahnle and Chafin was encouraging for the Yankees.

“Every game, every at-bat,” Domínguez said, “I start to feel more comfortable.”

The Yankees hope so in the field, too, a matter that has received far more attention.

Thursday represented exactly two weeks until Yankees Opening Day, when Dominguez is expected to get the start in left against the Brewers in The Bronx.

Boone said he probably has seen enough to feel comfortable with Domínguez in the spot, “but we’ll see, we’re still a couple of weeks away.”

It would be an enormous surprise if Dominguez does not get the nod after he has not collapsed at the position this spring and after the club chose to essentially give him a run of the spot unopposed.

The results in left field have been mixed during the Grapefruit League.

There have been head-scratching moments, balls lost in the sun and misdirected routes — although fewer of them recently.

Jason Dominguez is pictured during the Yankees’ spring training workout Feb. 19.

Domínguez said he “definitely” feels he is improving.

“I’ve been working every day, and I can feel it,” Domínguez added.

There also have been a few fly balls that have become outs on balls that an average left fielder would not reach.

“The Martian” has been hailed as a five-tool prospect, and speed is in the toolbox.

“I feel like he’s done a good job,” Boone said. “In fact, there’s been a few plays he’s made lately that show the range you like to see, too.

“I think his routes have been good lately, real direct routes. When he does that, you see the speed and he’s able to really eat up ground that most guys that play out there don’t.”

Domínguez’s spring work in left field has been uneven, but he only has needed to show flashes and progress to keep Cody Bellinger in center field and Trent Grisham on the bench.

He appears set to win the left field job — which would give his bat a chance to deliver on years of glowing minor league reports.

“Good to see him have a day like that,” Boone said.