In a deal that will be fascinating to analyze in future years, the Mission Viejo Maulers completed their pursuit of top outfielder prospect Jasson Dominguez from the Alamo Short Stacks. In return, the Stacks will receive 2021 1st (11th Overall) and 3rd (35th Overall) Round Picks as well as right-hander Taijuan Walker (2FA/$5).
Dominguez was the top prospect in the 2019 international free agent class and received a $5 million bonus from the Yankees, who seemed ready to move him aggressively until the pandemic hit. Dominguez had an extremely mature body for a 16-year-old when he signed, and even though he didn't turn 18 until early February, he already is more filled out than many players two or three years his senior. He’s big, but still retains explosiveness in his movements, including plus running speed and great hand acceleration at the plate, leading to elite exit velocities. We haven’t seen Dominguez in games yet, so any take on his readiness to hit pro pitching (and work the count, pick up spin, and so on) is just a guess, but his physical tools point to an elite bat who right now can stay in center field.
At a certain point in time, before he began playing actual games, we only knew as much about Wander Franco as we currently do about Dominguez. At a certain point in time, the same was true of Kevin Maitan. That is the range of potential outcomes here, as we still only truly know about Dominguez’s showcase tools (what it’s like to watch him take BP and run, both of which are scintillating) and very little about how he’ll perform against pro pitching. Because of how early and how covertly the Yankees and Dominguez agreed to a deal (New York spent all but about $300k of its initial $5.4 million international pool on him), few scouts have seen him at all, and even fewer have seen him against quality live pitching, although that number has started to creep up as he participates in live BPs in the Dominican Republic. The mystery and intrigue, rare for elite, contemporary teenage athletes because of the prevalence of social media video, and those slick Yankees pinstripes have created a fever pitch of expectation for Dominguez in both the real world and the baseball card finance bro space.
It’s hard to find switch-hitters with power like this, let alone ones who already have usable swings from both sides of the plate at this age. Dominguez got very jacked in 2020 and looked more like a Mr. Universe competitor than a baseball prospect. Not everyone digs this, and it’s discussed with the same tone of captivation and alarm as Zion Williamson’s size and explosion. There’s no precedent for someone this age being as big and strong as Dominguez already is, but nobody is sure what that means for his long-term athletic viability. He’s the highest-variance prospect in baseball, and maybe the highest-variance athlete in sports.
Given the variance, the Stacks decided to cash in on Dominguez's present value knowing they might regret it down the road. The club has flexibility with their Keeper List and the addition of the 11th and 35th overall picks give GM Greg Shelley the ability to either add to a soon to be shallow Farm System or leverage those picks in another deal.
The Stacks are seemingly always linked to Walker who was activated by the club in 2015 while playing two seasons for Shelley. The former top prospect missed the vast majority of the 2018-19 seasons due to injuries — most notably Tommy John surgery — but returned to his original organization, the Mariners, on a one-year deal last offseason. Walker tossed 27 solid frames for the Mariners before being traded to the Blue Jays and continuing to throw well. On the whole, he turned in 53 1/3 innings with an appealing 2.70 ERA and now moves to the National League East as a member of the Mets.
Walker made his Spring debut on Tuesday with the Stacks reportedly having a strong scouting presence to see him. His two inning outing was enough to convince the club to pull the trigger on the move. He is expected to slot in behind Yu Darvish, Frankie Montas and activation Julio Urias to start 2021.
The Stacks now hold seven of the top 56 selections in the 2021 Reserve Draft.
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