The Yankees’ new class of Baby Bombers
The 2023 Yankees season has largely been a colossal disappointment for both the fanbase and the front office. General manager Brian Cashman bluntly labeled the season as a “disaster” in a recent press conference. Some of the more passionate Yankees fans would probably have some harsher adjectives to describe the team’s performance and the season as a whole.
For most of the year, fans have patiently waited for their aging veterans to show signs of their usual level of play. It seemed like just a matter of time before players like Giancarlo Stanton, DJ Lemahieu, Anthony Rizzo, and Harrison Bader would show some semblance of their previously high levels of play. It’s now September and the time still has not come when these highly touted veterans have rivaled their previous production.
On Tuesday, Aug. 22, The Yankees sat with a record of 60-64 and were in the middle of a dreadful eight-game losing streak. With their playoff aspirations almost all but out of reach, they called up top prospects Everson Pereira and Oswald Peraza. Pereira, a left fielder who is the Yankees' number-three rated prospect, had an impressive eight home runs and a .937 on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS) in 35 games at the Triple-A level. Peraza, the Yankees' number-two rated prospect is a versatile infielder who first debuted in the majors in 2022. Peraza had an impressive slash line of .306/.404/.429 in the 18 games he played last season for the Yanks.
These moves marked a change in philosophy for the Yankees. Instead of continuing to stick with the underperforming veterans, the front office finally decided to insert some youth into a lineup that desperately needed it. Even with this new mindset, one week later—on Wednesday, Aug. 30—a struggling Bader was placed on waivers. This move angered many Yankees fans since Bader, a hometown kid from Bronxville, New York, was a fan favorite. Many media outlets saw this move as Cashman figuratively “throwing in the towel” on the Yankees season.
With team morale at a season-low and a fan base that was at a breaking point from watching a lifeless team, the Yankees decided to make some more moves. On Friday, Sept.1, the team called up two more young prospects, catcher Austin Wells and center fielder Jasson Domínguez.
The catching position had been a big hole for the Yankees this season with starting catcher Jose Trevino on the injured list and backup Kyle Higashoika underperforming. It was the perfect time to call up Wells who had an .801 OPS in 30 games at Triple-A.
Jasson “The Martian” Domínguez is only 20 years old and is the most highly anticipated Yankees player to make their debut since Aaron Judge. Domínguez flashed an impressive combination of power and speed in the minor leagues, hitting 36 home runs and stealing 86 bases in his minor league career. These moves further showed the Yankees' commitment to showcase their young talent in an attempt to salvage an otherwise forgettable season.
Domínguez and Wells were set to make their Yankees debuts against the Houston Astros. The Astros have been the Yankees' biggest rivals in the last few seasons. However, the rivalry has been fairly one-sided with the Astros knocking the Yankees out of the playoffs in 2015, 2017, 2019, and 2022. Going into the series, expectations were pretty low for the Yankees considering their previous history with the Astros and the current direction of the team.
On the mound for the Astros was future Hall of Famer Justin Verlander, who has predominantly pitched extremely well against the Yankees in his long and illustrious career. In the first inning, Jasson Domínguez came up to the plate against Verlander and turned on a high fastball with an 0-1 count for an opposite-field home run. The home run came on Dominguez’s first swing of his career in his very first game. It was a magical moment in a season with very few of them, and a glimmer of hope in a season of darkness.
Wells would also get his first hit of his major league career later in the game off of Verlander. The Yankees went on to beat the Astros 6-2 that night, and then swept Houston in the three-game series. In the final game of the series, Domínguez hit another home run to clinch the sweep, marking the first time the Yankees have swept the Astros in a three-game series since 2013. Nobody could have expected a team of young rookies to go into Houston and sweep the Astros; this series should give Yankees fans a reason to believe in the direction and the future of the franchise.
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