Help should soon be on the way for the New York Yankees in the form of a former top prospect.
Outfielder Jasson Dominguez is beginning his rehab assignment on Friday with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
According to MLB insider Jim Bowden, Dominguez will DH today, be off on Saturday, play left field on Sunday, and be off Monday before playing back-to-back games on Tuesday and Wednesday. If all goes well, he should be able to rejoin the Yankees by the end of next week, which would be a major boost given right fielder Aaron Judge landed on the injured list with a stress fracture of the first rib on his right side.
Judge, of course, will have limited activity for four to six weeks before getting re-imaged to determine healing and next steps. In the meantime, the Yankees called up top prospect Spencer Jones to take his spot on the roster.
Jones will presumably play right field until Dominguez returns to the team. Once Dominguez comes back, he should slide into left field and bump Cody Bellinger over to right field. Trent Grisham will likely continue to man the center field position.
Dominguez has been on the IL since May 8 with a left shoulder AC joint sprain. The 23-year-old crashed into the wall in left field at Yankee Stadium while attempting to make a catch the day before. Luckily, he did not suffer a concussion.
Dominguez was called up to the majors on April 27 to replace DH Giancarlo Stanton, who went on the IL with a right calf strain retroactive to April 25.
The expectation is that Stanton will return to the Yankees after Dominguez. Stanton has been hitting and recently began a running program. However, he is unlikely to join the Yankees are their upcoming road trip in Cleveland and Toronto, per manager Aaron Boone.
Having Dominguez and Stanton back will hopefully help the Yankees compensate for the loss of Judge. While the captain is certainly irreplaceable, Dominguez and Stanton should help the Yankee offense tremendously.
The Yankees enter play on Friday with a 37-25 record and a half-game behind the Tampa Bay Rays in the American League East division. New York will play the Boston Red Sox in a three game series this weekend at Yankee Stadium.
