Yankees top prospect Jason Dominguez continued to show his growing power with Double-A Somerset on Thursday night.
On a 1-0 count with two outs in the eighth inning, “The Martian” went opposite field to drop his eighth homer of the season and lift the Patriots to an 11-7 win over Portland. Dominguez finished 1-for-3 with a walk and two runs.
However, after dominating High-A ball last season, the outfielder has scuffled a bit with Somerset this season. After Thursday’s performance, the 20-year-old is slashing .205/.365/.769. He does have eight home runs in 43 games — he had 16 home runs in 120 games last year — so the power is beginning to emerge as a real threat for the prospect as the organization saw this spring.
Dominguez was invited to spring training and made his mark, going 8-for-22 with four home runs. Predictably, the Yankees sent their young outfielder to start the year in the minors but Dominguez took the experience to heart.
“What I learned from the big leagues is that I have a lot to learn, that I got to keep developing…” he said. “I got a long way to go.”
Somerset also had Austin Wells start Thursday night. The catcher is the Yankees’ top catching prospect and second overall — he even made MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 recently — and had himself a solid day at the plate.
Although Wells went 0-for-3 he did walk twice, drive in two runs and scored twice. Wells is now slashing .238/.339/.844 with eight home runs and 24 RBI. Like Dominguez, Wells’ power is beginning to develop.
He has eight homers in 27 games this season — he missed some time with an injury — while he had 20 in 92 games all of last year.