Jasson Dominguez’s Presence Gives The Yankees Intrigue For September.

In 2016, the New York Yankees began extremely poorly, slightly recovered but were nowhere near good enough to contend. It led to a selloff at the deadline that ultimately produced varying degrees of success and the mediocrity of the first 100 games or so also triggered a youth movement with the promotions of Aaron Judge and Gary Sanchez.

Perhaps those Yankees were sparked by the younger players because 2016 wound up becoming an 84-78 record followed by the unexpected and super fun 91-win team of 2017. In 2016, the Yankees were at .500 on 14 occasions between May 24 and Aug. 9.

These Yankees were not necessarily expecting to usher in a youth movement by calling up Jasson Domínguez when they attempted to follow up 99 wins and Aaron Judge’s historic 62 home runs but by the dog days of August they fell under .500 and the time was right to get a look at someone dubbed “The Martian” the minute he was signed in the 2019 international signing period shortly after the Nets signed Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.

Four years later, his spring training was hard to ignore and it was a daily check of his statistics to see how he was doing for Double-A – often the step below the majors. If his spring training stats were not tempting enough, what he did in his final Double-A plate appearances certainly put him closer on the radar.

On Aug. 22 – the same day the Yankees dropped their ninth straight — Dominguez was put closer in the rearview mirror by getting the call to join Triple-A. He went there after posting an OPS of 1.046, a .380 average with 14 RBIs, 17 runs, 12 extra-base hits and 48 total bases.

By then, manager Aaron Boone was getting the occasional inquiry about Dominguez and usually offered a “we’ll see.”

Last week while the Yankees waived Harrison Bader, who was claimed by Cincinnati, the call up became a reality. It happened the minute a team could expand a roster on Sept. 1 and in a go figure moment, it was the story of the Yankees finally sweeping the Astros, something they last achieved in 2013 when Dominguez was 10 and current pitching advisor Andy Pettitte threw the last pitch of a storied career.

Domínguez was the highlight of the sweep with a homer in his first at-bat and a two-run shot Sunday night. That linked him to Yogi Berra (1946), Aaron Judge (2016) and Joe Lefebvre (1980) as Yankees to hit two homers in their first three career games.

And perhaps sparked by the youth movement of adding Dominguez and first-round pick Austin Wells and not noted for the occasional impossible weight of carrying older and declining players, the Yankees are on their best run in two months. While Dominguez joined the team Friday, the Yankees are 7-3 in their last 10 games and that qualifies as their best stretch since going 9-5 from June 20 through July 4 to get 10 games over .500 at 49-39.

After getting to 10 games over the Yankees followed it up by going 12-27 to fall well out of the race and suddenly hear questions about how many games they will lose this season? While the Yankees still could finish under .500 for the first time since going 76-86 in 1992, it does not seem like a certainty.

While 84 wins is hardly anything to write home about, the early returns on Dominguez certainly make September games worth watching for a team that has infuriated virtually all fans who watch and especially those who voice their thoughts via social media.

“Obviously, nothing’s gone how we wanted to this year, but we’re playing for a lot.” Boone told reporters “You never know what can happen. We just want to go out and play our best baseball, and hopefully make some noise this month. Who knows?”

At 8 1/2 back of Seattle for the third wild card, it would take a 1978 type of run to get the spot or tie for the last wild card spot. At the very least, the Yankees can make it interesting with six games against Toronto and next week’s four-game series against the Red Sox, who are fading since their sweep in the Bronx.

Even if they are unlikely to storm back from a margin greater than what the Phillies achieved in 2007 (seven games with 17 games left), and still need to address various issues in the offseason, Dominguez’s presence creates a new layer of intrigue for a team who spent most of the first five months angering fans with boring games.

“He’s lived up to every ounce of hype that I’ve heard,” pitcher Michael King told reporters. “I heard he was otherworldly and he comes out here and just dominates.”