Yanks top prospect Domínguez (oblique) to miss 8 weeks

NEW YORK -- The news is worse than expected for outfielder Jasson Domínguez.

Domínguez, the Yankees’ top prospect and the No. 30 prospect in baseball according to MLB Pipeline, will miss about eight weeks with a significant left oblique strain, Yankees manager Aaron Boone announced on Thursday.

“It’s a pretty significant strain,” Boone said. “So it’s probably up to eight weeks before he plays in [a game].”

The 21-year-old Domínguez went on the injured list after feeling a tweak near his left oblique on a checked swing while playing for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Saturday. For the season, Domínguez is slashing .356/.404/.609 with six homers and 13 RBIs in 23 games across three levels.

Nicknamed “The Martian,” Domínguez has been seen as the Yankees’ center fielder of the future virtually since he signed for a $5.1 million bonus out of the Dominican Republic in July 2019. After he was promoted to the big leagues last Sept. 1, Domínguez went 7-for-21 (.333) with three home runs in the first five games of his big league career. But he had a tough time swinging the bat a few days later, and his season came to an end when the Yankees announced he needed Tommy John surgery on his right elbow. The procedure was performed on Sept. 20 by Dr. Keith Meister.

Domínguez returned to the baseball field in May. He played four games with Single-A Tampa and 10 with Double-A Somerset on rehab before he was activated from the IL and assigned to the RailRiders, where he slashed .389/.405/.639 in nine games.

The Yankees, however, did not have an avenue for promoting Domínguez, with Alex Verdugo, Aaron Judge and Juan Soto starting in the outfield and Giancarlo Stanton entrenched as the DH.