Around the Empire: Yankees news - 5/9/22

NJ Advance Media | Randy Miller: Yankees uber-prospect Jasson Dominguez homered on Friday, the second time in the young season that he has left the yard. However, he is scuffling in Low-A: In 101 plate appearances before Sunday, he is hitting .223/.277/.351 with an 83 wRC+. The Yankees had him repeat Low-A this year, because he merely held his own last year instead of dominating there. But this time, according to what a scout told Randy Miller of NJ Advance Media, he’s going in the wrong direction.

“It’s certainly not a prospect to get excited about in terms of a surefire thing in the major leagues, which I think is really what he was being touted,” the scout stated. “Dominguez looks considerably worse than last year.”

Per Miller, the scout has seen a lot of Dominguez this year, says he looks overmatched at the plate with a bevy of uncompetitive at-bats and serious swing-and-miss issues to boot. The Martian is still 19, so time is still very much on his side (and for optimists, he’s at a slightly more encouraging 1.024 OPS in the past six games). However, he does seem to be working through some struggles.

NY Daily News | Kristie Ackert: The Yankees are reshuffling their rotation for next week after their doubleheader on Sunday. Nestor Cortes will take the ball on Monday, Luis Severino will go on Tuesday, and Jameson Taillon will start Wednesday’s game.

Due to the Sunday doubleheader however, the Yankees will need a starter for Thursday’s game against the Chicago White Sox, and Michael King is not an option. Clarke Schmidt and Luis Gil would be available for that day.

NJ Advance Media | Randy Miller: Outfielder Tim Locastro, who has been a valuable reserve this season with a solid .795 OPS, just hit the injured list with a strained left latissimus dorsi. As a result, the Yankees are losing a valuable baserunner who plays a capable center field for at least a few days. Pitcher Ron Marinaccio was recalled from Triple-A Scranton Wilkes-Barre to take his spot on the roster with a long slate of games in the Yankees’ weeks ahead.

NY Post | Greg Joyce: Gleyber Torres hit a walk-off home run in the opener of Sunday’s doubleheader against the Texas Rangers. The visiting manager, however, wasn’t particularly classy when addressing the clutch hit against his team.

“Just a small ballpark,” Chris Woodward told reporters. “That’s an easy out in 99 percent of ballparks. The wind wasn’t helping today obviously. [Torres] just happened to hit it in a Little League ballpark to right field.”

The blast traveled 369 feet and would have been a homer in 26 of the 30 parks in MLB, so it wasn’t precisely a Yankee Stadium cheapie. It left Gleyber’s bat at 106.5 mph, too, so what he said is simply not true — and Woodward certainly didn’t complain about it helping Kole Calhoun and Eli White’s shorter homers on Sunday.

To his credit, Aaron Boone had a perfect counterpoint: