The "work In Progress" Yankees Outfield

You can say that the Yankees have been a “work in progress” for many years. You can say they are a “work in progress” with their leadership or their roster construction. Now we add the same tagline to centerfielder turned right fielder Jasson Dominguez. 

This team is a perennial “work in progress” or maybe it’s just always work because the progress part is elusive at best. You can call it many different things. Dominguez is no exception to this debate but he’s hanging in there. We are surviving in an outfield strategy shaped entirely by the injury bug. Dominguez has done better than I thought he was going to, honestly, but that doesn’t mean it has been without it’s stressful moments.

The Yankees series against the Reds definitely showed some weaknesses or areas of opportunity for Dominguez. Friday night he did overrun a hard hit ball, but he miraculously made the catch. He wasn’t quite as lucky in the third inning when he couldn’t hold onto a double hit by Blake Dunn. It was hard to watch.

On Saturday, he made a nice catch on JJ Bleday‘s liner to right field but made an error throwing to second base that prevented a potential inning-ending double play. It was a mental error. Something already not out of the norm for Dominguez but when you add playing a new position it makes potential for errors even higher. It also can be the difference between a win and a loss. Even if Dominguez didn’t have that error, it wouldn’t have changed the lopsided loss but something like that could be a difference maker in a close game.

That’s what worries me. We have to do what we have to do while we work through these injuries. It’s not perfect and even Aaron Boone knows it.
“You see his speed come into play,” Boone said. “Overall, he’s played pretty well. It’s early. He’s still a work in progress there.”

The Yankees have faith in Dominguez. It’s not like they have much of a choice right now, but they always have. We’ve seen it for years now as the Yankees have stayed loyal to Dominguez even with concerns in his development showing. If there is ever a time for him to prove to the Yankees and fans that he can be a big leaguer…..it’s now.

In the meantime, we are a “work in progress” and I hope that doesn’t eventually cost us the division.