Dominguez homers, scores career-best 4 runs

It's taken some time, but it appears The Martian has arrived.

After a slow start, Jasson Dominguez has found a groove lately, keeping his recent torrid play up on Tuesday when he collected a pair of knocks -- including his fifth dinger of the year -- walked and scored a career-high four runs to help lift Single-A Tampa over Lakeland, 7-5, at George M. Steinbrenner Field.

The third-ranked Yankees prospect extended his hitting streak to four straight, with hits in six of his last seven games. He's amassed four multihit performances over that stretch, including three straight -- and has left the yard in consecutive games for the first time in his career.

Against the Flying Tigers, Dominguez worked a four-pitch walk with one out in the opening frame. He was plated two batters later on a two-out homer from Anthony Garcia that opened the scoring in the game.

In the third, the 19-year-old fell behind 0-2 in the count before barreling up a fastball from Garrett Burhenn and sending it into orbit beyond the right-center field wall. The blast traveled 412 feet at a whopping 108.4 mph.

MLB.com's No. 56 overall prospect put a charge into Statcast again when he led off the sixth. Dominguez blasted a 2-0 fastball into right at 106.9 mph. The ball was hit so hard, it limited the speeder to a single. Still, after another walk and a hit-by-pitch, Dominguez scampered home on an RBI knock from Benjamin Cowles.

In his final plate appearance of the game, the outfielder was hit by the first pitch he saw in the eighth. After a fly out for the first out of the frame, Dominguez successfully stole his fifth base of the season. A pair of walks followed to load the bases, and the Dominican Republic native was plated after Cowles was hit by a pitch.

Dominguez is 11-for-24 with five extra-base hits, four walks, nine runs scored and seven RBIs over his past seven games. The recent hot stretch has elevated his slash line to .271/.333/.471 in 34 games this season.

One of the most hyped international prospects ever, Dominguez signed for $5.1 million in July 2019 after drawing comparisons to the likes of Bo Jackson, Mickey Mantle and Mike Trout. Also known as "The Martian" because of his out-of-this-world tools, he spent most of 2021 in Low-A Southeast, holding his own as the circuit's second-youngest position player, and participated in the SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game. The switch-hitter generates tremendous bat speed from both sides of the plate and did more damage left-handed, which is tailor made for the short porch in right field at the Stadium in the Bronx.

Prior to the game on Tuesday, the Tarpons received a visit from MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred, who dropped in to chat with manager Rachel Balkovec. It was the Commissioner’s first time meeting Balkovec, who broke a major barrier last month by becoming the first full-time female manager in affiliated baseball history, and his first chance to see some of this year’s Minor League rule changes in action -- such as the very favorable pitch clock.