SI:AM | The Yankees Finally Made the Call-Up Everyone Was Clamoring For

‘The Martian’ has landed.

Dominguez (right) made his highly-anticipated return to the majors Monday. / Brad Penner-Imagn Images

Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. I loved seeing the very similar back page headlines the New York tabloids published after the Jets’ loss.

In today’s SI:AM:

😡 Rivalry week comes early
🍺 The Brewers’ star rookie
🔬 Transfer QBs under the microscope

A boost for the AL’s best team

The New York Yankees are a really good baseball team. At 83–61, they’re in first place in the AL East (1.5 games ahead of the Baltimore Orioles) and have the best record in the American League. But they’ve also got some problems, the most glaring of which is the play of left fielder Alex Verdugo. And for weeks New York refused to make the seemingly obvious move and promote heralded outfield prospect Jasson Domínguez to provide an upgrade over Verdugo. On Monday, though, the Yankees finally decided to bring Domínguez up to the majors. What kind of difference will it make?

Verdugo got off to a decent start this season, posting a .256/.319/.429 slash line with eight homers and 29 RBIs in the first two months, but he’s declined steadily since. He’s hit just four homers since the end of May (including one on Monday night). In August, he posted a dismal .204/.269/.280 slash line, which led the Yankees to drop him in the lineup. He had mostly batted cleanup early in the season before primarily batting leadoff from mid-July through mid-August. He hasn’t batted higher than seventh in the lineup since Aug. 23.

Dropping Verdugo in the lineup is putting a band-aid on the problem, though. The Yankees had the opportunity to make a more forceful move and bring Domínguez up from the minors to take over Verdugo’s spot. It seemed like a no-brainer that Domínguez would be promoted when rosters expanded on Sept. 1, but he wasn’t. When asked why, Yankees manager Aaron Boone said that the team was “not ready to make that move yet.” Jon Heyman of the New York Post reported that Boone and Brian Cashman are still believers in Verdugo, despite his struggles at the plate.

It’s easy to see why fans would be clamoring for the Yankees to promote Domínguez. The 21-year-old is one of the most celebrated young players in the game, with four major scouting services ranking him as one of the top 40 or so prospects. His talent is so otherworldly that he’s nicknamed “The Martian.” His tremendous debut last season, in which he hit four home runs in eight games, only elevated expectations, but that first taste of big league action was cut short when Domínguez tore the UCL in his throwing arm and had to undergo Tommy John surgery. The injury derailed plans to have Domínguez compete for the starting center field job in spring training, leading the Yankees to trade for Verdugo.

Domínguez returned to game action in May, playing in minor league rehab games, but his comeback hit a snag in late June when he strained an oblique muscle. That injury kept him out for about a month. Despite all the stops and starts, though, Dominguez has hit very well in the minors this season. He’s batting .314/.376/.504 with 11 homers in 58 games.

On Monday, Domínguez finally got the call. The Yankees put infielder D.J. LeMahieu on the injured list with a hip impingement and promoted Domínguez to take his roster spot. Domínguez was in the lineup for Monday night’s game against the Kansas City Royals, batting sixth and playing center while Verdugo batted ninth and played left. Domínguez went 1-for-4 and Verdugo was 2-for-4 with a homer.

The Yankees’ loyalty to Verdugo always seemed strange. Yes, it would hurt to give up on a player who you just traded for this winter, but he’s on an expiring contract. The team has no reason to keep playing him in hopes he can carry some momentum into next season. And while Verdugo has played good defense in left—he leads MLB in fielding arm value, according to Statcast—it can’t be enough to make up for how terrible he has been with the bat.

At the same time, though, fans might have set their expectations for Domínguez too high. Yes, he was incredible during his cup of coffee last year, but it was only eight games. And he hasn’t even had that much experience playing at the upper levels of the minors. Before his call-up last season, Domínguez played just nine games in Triple A. So while he’s spent the majority of this season at that level, he has still only played 53 games at Triple A. Yes, he has hit very well at every level of the minors, but it’s a lot to ask a 21-year-old with just four seasons of pro experience to make the jump to the majors and be a starter on a team locked in a tight division race.

Although many fans wanted the move to be made sooner, Domínguez’s addition will be a big help for the Yankees in the final weeks of the regular season. It will allow New York to give Aaron Judge a break, either moving him to a less physically demanding position in one of the outfield corners or serving as the designated hitter on occasion. And the expanded size of September rosters means that the Yankees can continue to carry Verdugo while they decide if Domínguez is ready for the big leagues. It won’t be until October that the team is forced to decide which one will get the nod for the playoffs.

DJ Uiagalelei’s (4) transfer to Florida State hasn’t gone according to plan. / Tom Maher/INPHO via Imagn Images

The best of Sports Illustrated

• This is a surprisingly big week in college football. Pat Forde breaks down all the rivalry games on the schedule this early in the season thanks to conference realignment.

• Forde also wrote about a few transfer quarterbacks who need to step up this week.

• If you haven’t been paying attention to the Brewers, allow Nick Selbe to introduce you to how incredible 20-year-old rookie Jackson Chourio has been.

• Kyle Koster and Liam McKeone compiled a list of the best NFL announcer moments from Week 1.

• Here is the body cam footage from the Tyreek Hill traffic stop.

• The 49ers are in a bit of a pickle over their injury reports. Running back Jordan Mason said he was told on Friday he’d get the start, but the team didn’t rule out Christian McCaffrey until just before game time.

The top five …

… things I saw last night:

5. WWE wrestler Sami Zayn’s entrance during Raw in Calgary in a Johnny Gaudreau Flames jersey.
4. Shohei Ohtani’s 47th steal of the season. He’s well on his way to a 50–50 season.
3. Aaron Rodgers’s 36-yard touchdown throw after baiting a defender into jumping offsides.
2. Pirates rookie Paul Skenes counting all nine of his strikeouts.
1. Rob Refsnyder and Tyler O’Neil’s incredible nights at the plate. They hit back-to-back homers twice.