The New York Yankees suffered one of the biggest losses of the offseason when right fielder Juan Soto decided to leave in free agency, agreeing to a historic deal with their crosstown rivals, the New York Mets.
He was incredible in his one season in the Bronx, finishing third in the MVP voting and combining with Aaron Judge, who took home the award, as one of the most productive duos in baseball history.
Replacing a player of that caliber certainly isn’t easy, but the front office has done a solid job of spreading the money around that would have gone to Soto.
Some other holes on the roster were filled, such as acquiring closer Devin Williams from the Milwaukee Brewers and outfielder/first baseman Cody Bellinger from the Chicago Cubs in trades.
In free agency, Paul Goldschmidt was signed to take over at first base and the team bolstered their pitching staff even more with the addition of ace Max Fried.
There will be some pressure on Bellinger to help offset the loss of Soto, but the player who will be under the microscope the most is Jasson Dominguez, who was highlighted by Thomas Harrigan of MLB.com as one of the players who has to replace a key contributor in 2025.
Yankees fans have been patiently waiting for the star outfield prospect to get his chance at the Major League level as he has been highly touted for half a decade. Since 2020, he has been easily inside the Top 100 prospects in the game.
His immense potential was on full display when he made his debut near the end of the 2023 campaign, launching four home runs in eight games with only 31 at-bats. But he suffered an elbow injury that required Tommy John surgery.
He was able to get back in the lineup in 2024 but the production was not great, as he recorded a slash line of .179/.313/.304 in 56 at-bats. Even more troubling was his issues defensively as he didn’t look comfortable in left field.
It will be imperative for the Yankees that he put that rough stretch behind him, as he is a key component to them finding success.
Replacing Soto is no small task, but New York believes that Dominguez is up for the task, otherwise they would have pushed harder to acquire an established veteran this offseason.
As long as he can outproduce what the team received from Alex Verdugo last year, he will raise the ceiling of the offense. But, long-term, he has face of the franchise potential, as he could be the next homegrown superstar following in the footsteps of Judge.
