NEW YORK — With their season on the line, down 2-1 in the 2022 American League Division Series against the Cleveland Guardians, the New York Yankees turned to Oswaldo Cabrera at shortstop in Game 4. Cabrera had played just 28 innings at shortstop in the majors after being called up in mid-August and was mostly used in the outfield, but the Yankees were desperate.
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Isiah Kiner-Falefa, the team’s starting shortstop, looked shaky defensively. Yankees manager Aaron Boone said Kiner-Falefa was pressing and trying to avoid making mistakes rather than playing freely. All season long, Yankees observers could tell Kiner-Falefa never looked fully comfortable playing shortstop, despite the organization citing internal metrics suggesting he was one of MLB’s best defenders.
In September 2022, the Yankees called up top prospect Oswald Peraza, a known defensive wizard thought to be the favorite for the starting shortstop job in 2023. Instead of playing Peraza nearly every day to see if he could supplant Kiner-Falefa at shortstop, the prospect’s playing time was sporadic. At the most important position in the infield, the Yankees had a revolving door after Game 4 with Kiner-Falefa, Cabrera and Peraza all receiving starts.
Fast forward two years and the Yankees find themselves in a similar spot at the beginning of September.
Left field is a weakness for the club and an obvious spot where a possible upgrade could be warranted. Entering Sunday’s game, Alex Verdugo’s 78 wRC+ ranked 23rd among 24 left fielders with at least 250 plate appearances this season. His base running runs above average, a fully encompassing stat that measures everything a player does on the base paths, ranked 21st. Public defensive metrics are split on him. In defensive runs saved, Verdugo ranks fifth; but in outs above average, he is tied for 20th. Verdugo’s 0.2 fWAR ranks 21st among the 24 left fielders when calculating his entire value on the field.
General manager Brian Cashman recently said there was “no lane” for Jasson Domínguez, the team’s No. 1 prospect, to play in the big leagues because everyone is healthy. Boone said if Domínguez were to get called up, the organization would want him playing every day.
JASSON DOMÍNGUEZ! BACK-TO-BACK-TO-BACK JACKS IN THE FIFTH INNING! 💥
405 Ft. | 103.7 mph pic.twitter.com/jdCjlYogAr
— SWB RailRiders (@swbrailriders) August 31, 2024
There’s currently not an open spot for him to play every day, even though there could be if the Yankees wanted to make space. So, the Yankees decided against calling Domínguez up when rosters expanded on Sunday. Instead, outfielder Duke Ellis was the team’s choice. Boone said Ellis can defend well and will be used in pinch-running situations. As for why Ellis was the choice over Domínguez, Boone repeated the organization’s messaging. There’s just no room for Domínguez to play.
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“Certainly in the conversation,” Boone said. “When he comes up here, you’re going to want to play him every day. He’ll continue to remain in that conversation. Over the last couple of weeks, he’s starting to play well from coming back from the oblique injury. Tough call right now. It doesn’t mean that it won’t change in a couple of days, a week, two weeks, whatever it is. But it’s important for him to continue to play right now.”
Unsurprisingly, Boone referenced Verdugo playing well in Washington as a sign that he could be gaining traction at the plate. In the three-game series, Verdugo went 5-for-12 with five singles. Entering Sunday’s game against the St. Louis Cardinals, Verdugo was 1-for-7 in the series. Since May 1, Verdugo’s 71 wRC+ over 432 plate appearances ranks last among 23 qualified left fielders.
A three-game sample size of 12 at-bats should not be used as evidence of a turnaround coming when the larger sample size is 394 at-bats.
“I feel like he got a little traction,” Boone said of Verdugo’s series against the Nationals. “I thought he had a lot of really good at-bats and some tough matchups in Washington. Hopefully, it’s him really getting going because he’s really capable. He’s been a little bit unlucky this year. When you scratch underneath, it’s kind of in line with what he’s done most of his career as far as the contact quality. He can really defend in left but I feel like if he can really get it going — talk about lengthening the lineup — he certainly can provide that.”
The contact quality metrics don’t necessarily paint Verdugo in a good light. His xwOBACON, a metric that evaluates the productiveness of how a hitter puts the ball into play, is the lowest of his career. His hard-hit rate is the lowest it’s been since the shortened 2020 season. His .285 wOBA, a metric that evaluates a player’s offensive contributions per plate appearance, is by far the lowest mark of his career. His maximum exit velocity of 110.7 mph is the lowest of his career since 2018. His metrics against fastballs, in particular, are the worst of his career. And when he’s not making contact, he’s whiffing at fastballs at the highest rate of his career.
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Verdugo’s BABIP is .254, the lowest of his career. The league average BABIP entering Sunday was .290. Verdugo’s being significantly lower could suggest he has run into bad luck. But he’s also not hitting the ball with authority. A steady flow of ground balls to second base isn’t going to help any player’s BABIP.
The hype surrounding Domínguez grew to astronomical levels in his eight MLB games last season before he tore his ulnar collateral ligament. He hit four home runs and looked ready to destroy major-league pitching in a larger sample size. Domínguez may not be that dominant over a larger span, but there’s enough evidence that he should be given the chance of winning the left-field job. Even if Domínguez’s numbers are somehow worse than Verdugo’s, at least those are data points for the Yankees to observe and compare. But they can’t do that with him facing Triple-A pitching.
As Boone said, Domínguez could get called up at any point. But the longer it goes where he’s not with the team, that’s fewer MLB pitches he gets to see. That’s fewer defensive opportunities he gets to see if he could get comfortable in Yankee Stadium’s expansive left field. That’s fewer chances to see if the Yankees can benefit from another hot streak from Domínguez in a tight American League East division race.
Verdugo is a free agent at season’s end and a likely stopgap with Domínguez potentially taking over next season. The Yankees don’t have a lengthy financial commitment to Verdugo. They owe him nothing long-term. They gave him nearly an entire season to prove he was worthy of his postseason roster spot being a lock. He didn’t take advantage. There should be a daily competition in left field.
Every day that goes by without Domínguez getting MLB at-bats from this day forward is the Yankees not taking advantage of seeing if their club could be improved ahead of the postseason.
(Top photo of Jasson Domínguez: Rich Schultz / Getty Images)
Chris Kirschner is a staff writer for The Athletic covering the New York Yankees. He previously covered the Atlanta Hawks from 2018-2022 for The Athletic. Chris was named Georgia's Sportswriter of the Year in 2021 for his work covering the Hawks. Chris is a native of Bronx, NY. Follow Chris on Twitter @chriskirschner
