Jasson Dominguez became the latest casualty of this dreadful Yankees season, as the rookie was diagnosed with a torn UCL in his right elbow on Sunday.
The injury, which will require surgery, will knock him out for at least a portion of next season.
The 20-year-old former top prospect reported soreness in his right elbow as far back as his first series in Houston, but it didn’t impact him at the plate until he was taking batting practice prior to Sunday’s 4-3, 13-inning win over Milwaukee.
Dominguez was scratched not long before first pitch and underwent imaging during the game.
“Definitely very shocking news,” Dominguez said through an interpreter. “I was never expecting for this to be the result.”
He said he couldn’t point to any particular action that caused the injury.
Surgery is expected to be performed soon.
Aaron Boone said the normal recovery time for Tommy John surgery for a position player is nine to 10 months, which would mean a midseason return for Dominguez.
Phillies’ star Bryce Harper came back from the procedure in less than six months.
Harper, though, was able to protect his elbow by splitting his time between first base and DH, which won’t happen with Dominguez.
Dominguez had gotten off to an excellent start to his major league career, with four homers in his first seven games, while playing center field for a Yankees team that is looking to see who can help in 2024.
The switch hitter displayed impressive power from the left side and performed ably in center, but was 1-for-10 with five strikeouts in his previous three games — including a three-strikeout game on Saturday.
He began getting treatment on the elbow Wednesday, but it got progressively worse.
“In BP swinging [Sunday], he couldn’t hit it hard,” Aaron Boone said. “I’m crushed for him. At the same time, he’s a young man and these things resolve themselves. So it’s a moment of time in the grand scheme of things, in what we feel like has a chance to be a long and excellent career.”
Gleyber Torres suffered a similar injury as a minor-leaguer, when he got hurt on a hook slide into home plate in June 2017 and he returned early in 2018.
Dominguez had provided a spark to a team in need of one in the final month of what’s been an ugly season.
Called up Sept. 1 after just nine games at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre following a promotion from Double-A Somerset, Dominguez hit a homer with the first swing he took in the majors.
Then he went on to hit three more homers, all from the left side.
With their postseason hopes doomed this year, the Yankees are looking at which of their young players — if any — can play a significant role going forward.
While there are other significant names, like former first-round pick Austin Wells, as well as Everson Pereira, Oswald Peraza and Oswaldo Cabrera, none brought the star power like Dominguez.
Dominguez signed as an international free agent as a 16-year-old out of the Dominican Republic in 2019.
The Yankees signed him for a whopping $5.1 million and dubbed him “The Martian.”
After some up-and-down seasons in the minors, Dominguez became part of the Yankees’ unexpected youth movement when it became clear in August they were not going to make a late-season run at the postseason.
He was replaced Sunday in center by Isiah Kiner-Falefa, who had been in the lineup at third, which further shows that they will head into the offseason with plenty of questions about their outfield again — other than Aaron Judge in right — and a hope that Dominguez can return to health quickly and prove that what turned out to be just an eight-game cameo in the majors wasn’t a fluke.