The hype from some circles surrounding Yankees' 18-year-old prospect Jasson Dominguez was probably a bit much before, but this might be a wee bit over the top.
What would you pay for a 2020 Bowman Chrome Superfractor card of Dominguez that also happens to be autographed? My hunch is a *decent* number of people reading this would come up far short.
Such a card sold for $474,000 this weekend, per Goldin Auctions.
A cool $474,000 investment on Dominguez's autographed baseball card, eh? For a point of reference, essentially the same card of Rays phenom Wander Franco (who made his MLB debut in 2021) sold for a touch less than $200,000.
The Yankees signed Dominguez as an international free agent out of the Dominican Republic at the age of 16 for $5.1 million in 2019. Here's what CBS Sports' R.J. Anderson wrote at the time:
According to most publications, Dominican outfielder Jasson Dominguez was the best player available this class. Dominguez was so well-touted that ESPN's Jeff Passan wrote a lengthy profile of him on Monday, detailing why he's called the "Martian," among other interesting tidbits.
The parts of Passan's piece likeliest to raise eyebrows? The comparisons some baseball officials make concerning Dominguez's upside. There's a general manager saying he's a bit like Mike Trout, except better at this age; another person saying he's like Mickey Mantle due to his speed and power; and yet another executive saying he's the best July 2 player he's ever seen.
So in addition to the Yankees' effect driving up the speculative future price on this baseball card, the Mike Trout and Mickey Mantle mentions contributed as well.
Dominguez turns 19 years old on Monday, so we still have quite a while to see if he can come close to living up to this kind of unnecessary -- and, frankly, probably unfair to him -- hype.
In 49 games (214 plate appearances and 186 at-bats) for Class A Tampa last season, Dominguez hit .258/.346/.398 with nine doubles, a triple, five homers, 18 RBI, 26 runs, seven stolen bases, 21 walks and 67 strikeouts.
