Jasson Dominguez gives Aaron Boone perfect excuse to chicken out going into postseason

Among the most pressing questions as the New York Yankees look toward the postseason is in the outfield: Specifically, who will serve as the team's go-to left fielder come October?

For months now, fans have been clamoring for Brian Cashman, Aaron Boone and Co. to just hand the keys to top prospect Jasson Dominguez, who flashed serious promise toward the end of last season before undergoing Tommy John surgery. But Yankees brass has been reluctant to move on from offseason acquitision Alex Verdugo, even as Verdugo's bat totally disappeared in the second half of the season. (Verdugo is slugging .306 with a .597 OPS and just 11 extra-base hits since the All-Star break, which doesn't feel like it should even be possible.)

Over the past couple of weeks, the tide seemed to finally be turning. New York called Dominguez up to the Majors on Sept. 9, and he's started 11 of the team's 15 games since (compared to just eight starts for Verdugo). But Dominguez hasn't exactly taken the opportunity and run with it, struggling both at the plate and in the field. And one play during the Yankees' 9-7 loss to the Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday night should give pause to anyone hoping that Dominguez will be Boone's first choice in the playoffs.

The weakness that could keep Jasson Dominguez out of the postseason lineup

Dominguez has yet to really heat up at the plate, but that's hardly an excuse to keep him out of the lineup. Verdugo has somehow been even worse, and the Martian's Minor League numbers (.314/.376/.504 across three levels this season) points at the kind of upside he has. Given how bad Verdugo has been, that kind of upside is more than worth chasing.

The real danger lies on the other side of the ball. Dominguez's defense in left has been a roller-coaster ride so far, and that inconsistency reared its head again on Wednesday night. With the bases loaded in the top of the first inning, Dominguez misplayed a relatively routine fly ball down the left-field line, allowing two runs to score.

Dominguez has made a habit of this sort of thing lately, and it's exactly the kind of error that erodes a manager's trust in a young player. The one thing that Verdugo has going for him in this battle is veteran experience; if Boone can't trust Dominguez to not make the big, game-swinging mistake, it'll be all too easy for New York to fall back on the safer option — no matter how uninspiring that may seem. With just a few days left in the regular season, Dominguez is running out of time to convince Yankees decision-makers that they can feel confident about running him out there when the lights are brightest.