Erik Boland: Yankees' Jasson Dominguez can't catch a break, exits after getting hit by pitch on elbow

ARLINGTON, Texas – It is far too early to refer to Jasson Dominguez’s career as “star-crossed.”

But one does begin to wonder.

Called up from the minor leagues to make his season debut on Monday, the 23-year-old started his third straight game on Wednesday afternoon. He was given a runway for consistent playing time after Giancarlo Stanton’s move to the injured list and the club’s decision to designate veteran outfielder Randal Grichuk for assignment.

But, at the moment, it seems the number of major-league games under Dominguez’s belt in 2026 could stay at three for a bit.

Dominguez took a direct hit on his left elbow from an 89-mph cutter thrown by former Yankee Nathan Eovaldi in Wednesday’s 3-0 loss, forcing the outfielder from the game.

The Yankees announced that Dominguez suffered a left elbow contusion. X-rays were taken at the ballpark, and, perhaps forebodingly, the team did not use the word “negative” to describe them — a term they almost always use when test results show nothing of consequence.

There was no announcement, either, of damage being discovered but the club said “further imaging” would be “required in New York.”

Trainer took a long look at Jasson Dominguez after this hit by pitch on the elbow, but he's staying in the game pic.twitter.com/3mAK89gC84

— Talkin' Yanks (@TalkinYanks) April 29, 2026

After the loss, one that still left the Yankees with a terrific 7-2 record on their three-city, nine-game trip that began April 21 against the Red Sox, neither Aaron Boone nor Dominguez painted a worst-case picture.

Rather, and one could hardly blame them, it was more of a “wait-and-see” situation.

“Right now, that’s what it is, inclusive,” Boone said of Wednesday’s X-rays. “So they’ll get what they need tomorrow Thursday] and hopefully have a diagnosis and we’ll see.”

Dominguez, who said his arm went “numb” after he was hit and there was “swelling” in the elbow, said he would wait until Thursday’s tests to “see what I’ve got” before evaluating his level of worry.

“Right now, I don’t feel any concern,” Dominguez said, saying later his range of motion was “fine.”

Dominguez, getting the start in leftfield on Wednesday after starting the first two games of the series at DH, immediately squatted to the ground after Eovaldi hit him in the fourth inning.

“He got me right on the elbow,” Dominguez said.

Dominguez, clearly in severe pain, was soon accompanied on the dirt to the right of home plate by Boone and head trainer Tim Lentych. The trio spent several minutes talking, with Lentych occasionally lightly massaging the affected area, Boone even doing the same at one point.

Dominguez stayed in the game and went to first base but, after Eovaldi retired the Yankees in the top half, reserve Max Schuemann replaced the outfielder on defense for the bottom of the fourth.

“Timmy felt like a bump there,” Boone said of Lentych. “When he came in, you could tell he was still hurting with it, so I knew at the end of the inning he wasn’t going to be able to go back out there.”

It was yet another bad break for one of the organization’s most hyped prospects. For a variety of reasons, this is a career that has not launched to the degree most anticipated.

Wednesday was, in a general sense, reminiscent of September 2023 when Dominguez made his big-league debut to great fanfare.

He delivered in as dramatic way imaginable Sept. 1 of that year, homering in his first career at-bat, doing so off future Hall of Famer Justin Verlander in Houston’s Minute Maid Park (now Daikin Park).

That marked the start of a blistering first eight games for Dominguez, but the stretch — in which he hit four homers and produced a .980 OPS — soon came to a crashing halt. Beginning in the third game, he felt slight discomfort in his right elbow that gradually worsened. Testing eventually revealed a torn ulnar collateral ligament, and on Sept. 10, it was announced he would require Tommy John surgery

“Crushed for him,” a somber Boone said the day of that announcement.

Here in Arlington on Wednesday, Boone wasn’t yet ready to go down that emotive road.

“Hate seeing that,” he said. “Again, hopefully the tests reveal not much and it’s just bruising. But unknown at this point.”

Dominguez managed to smile when asked about his disappointment level at potentially suffering a significant injury so soon after coming up from the minors.

“This is baseball,” he said. “It is what it is.”