Jasson Domínguez

Jasson Domínguez (born February 7, 2003), nicknamed El Marciano or the Martian, is a Dominican professional baseball outfielder for the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball (MLB). He made his MLB debut in 2023.

Early life
Domínguez was born in Esperanza, a municipality of the Valverde Province in the Dominican Republic on February 7, 2003. He is the second of six children born to Félix Domínguez and Dorca González. Félix is a former baseball player and a fan of the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball (MLB). Félix named his son after Yankees first baseman Jason Giambi.

Domínguez began to train for a career in baseball at the age of eight. He signed with trainer Iván Noboa at age 13. Domínguez played as a catcher before transitioning into a center fielder. He is considered to be a five-tool player. During his training, someone referred to him as "El Marciano", Spanish for "the Martian", because his talent was not of this world. Several workout videos that he posted on social media went viral, earning him comparisons to Mickey Mantle, Bo Jackson, and Mike Trout.

Minor leagues
Domínguez was ranked as the top prospect eligible to sign with an MLB team in the 2019–2020 international class. He signed with the Yankees for a franchise record $5.1 million signing bonus on July 2, 2019, receiving the majority of the Yankees' $5.4 million total allotment for international signings for the year. He did not play in 2020 due to the cancellation of the minor league baseball season resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, and instead trained at a baseball academy in Santiago.

Domínguez began the 2021 season in extended spring training. In June, he made his professional baseball debut with the Florida Complex League Yankees of the Rookie-level Florida Complex League. He was selected to represent the Yankees in the 2021 All-Star Futures Game. Domínguez became the first prospect to appear in the All-Star Futures Game without having played a full-season in the minor league. The Yankees promoted Domínguez to the Tampa Tarpons of the Low-A Southeast League after the Futures Game; he had batted 4-for-20 (.200) with six strikeouts and six walks in the Florida Complex League. Domínguez batted .258 with five home runs and 18 runs batted in (RBIs) in 49 games played.

Domínguez began the 2022 season with Tampa. He appeared in the 2022 All-Star Futures Game, and was then promoted to the Hudson Valley Renegades of the High-A South Atlantic League. When Hudson Valley's season ended, the Yankees promoted Domínguez to the Somerset Patriots of the Double-A Eastern League for their last few regular season games and their postseason.

In 2023, the Yankees invited Domínguez to spring training as a non-roster player and assigned him to Somerset to begin the season. The Yankees promoted him to the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders of the Triple–A International League on August 22. After the season, he won the Eastern League Top MLB Prospect Award.

New York Yankees
On September 1, 2023, the Yankees promoted Domínguez to the major leagues. He made his major league debut that day against the Houston Astros and hit a home run off the first swing in his first at bat against Justin Verlander. With that home run, Domínguez became the youngest player in team history to hit a home run in his major league debut and surpassed Whitey Lockman as the youngest in MLB history to do so in their first plate appearance. He hit four home runs in eight games. On September 10, Domínguez was diagnosed with a torn ulnar collateral ligament, requiring Tommy John surgery, ending his season 9 days after promotion.

Domínguez began the 2024 season on the 60-day injured list to continue recovery from elbow surgery. After a rehabilitation assignment began in May, the Yankees activated Domínguez from the injured list and optioned him to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on June 12. However, on June 20, manager Aaron Boone announced that Domínguez would be out up to eight weeks after suffering a "pretty significant" oblique strain.