Blue Jays Nation’s Pre-Season Prospect Countdown – No. 32: Michael Dominguez

5 months ago

Today’s prospect is one of the most intriguing in the Blue Jays organization.

This is Blue Jays Nation’s annual pre-season list, in which I’ll take a look at the top 50 prospects in the organization. We’ll look at the player’s stats, my observations, and other publications’ scouting reports if available.

Let’s take a look at Michael Dominguez.

Getting to know Michael Dominguez…

Position: Starting Pitcher

Throws: Right

Born: August 17, 2000

Acquired: 15th-round, 2019 draft (Blue Jays)

2023 Team: Double-A New Hampshire

Previous Ranking: 48

Michael Dominguez is one prospect you should take note of. He started his career in 2019 with the Gulf Coast League Blue Jays where he had a 1.13 ERA and a 2.88 FIP in 24 innings pitched, along with a 30.5 K% and a 10.5 BB%.

Of course, Dominguez didn’t pitch in affiliate ball in 2020 due to the pandemic, but he returned to action in 2021. He spent nine innings with the Florida Complex League Jays, before heading to Single-A Dunedin. With Dunedin, Dominguez had a 3.34 ERA and a 4.10 FIP in 29.2 innings pitched, along with a 24.2 K% and a 9.4 BB%.

Dominguez made his mark in 2022, however. With the Single-A D-Jays, he had a 5.82 ERA and a 4.25 FIP in 51 innings pitched, along with a 29.1 K% and an 8.4 BB%. The righty also made seven starts with the High-A Vancouver Canadians in 2022, posting a 3.64 ERA and a 4.07 FIP in 29.2 innings pitched, along with a 30.9 K% and a 9.8 BB%.

He repeated High-A to start the season, and posted a similar 3.65 ERA and a 4.93 FIP in 66.2 innings pitched in 15 starts. Dominguez’s K% dropped to 28%, but more worrisome was the walk rate ballooning to 17.4%, the first time since his brief 2019 season where it was over 10%.

Still, the Blue Jays saw it was fitting to promote him to Double-A New Hampshire, where he had a 2.49 ERA and a 6.92 FIP in eight starts or 35.2 innings pitched. Despite facing more advanced batters, the K% remained at a high 27.9%, but the BB% still sat at 15.6%. Moreover, Dominguez had a 2.78 HR/9 in Double-A, with eight of the 11 homers coming against left-handed batters.

Dominguez was one of only four pitchers to pitch more than 100 innings (102.1). Altogether, he had a 3.87 ERA and a 5.27 FIP, along with a 28 K% and a 16.8 BB%.

So far, Dominguez only ranks on one publication’s list, as Scott Mitchell ranked him as his 41st-best Blue Jays prospect. Mitchell noted that his slider is “one of the most unique in the organization”. Which is true, just watch the video below. Mitchell also notes that there’s reliever risk.

Dominguez has a fastball, slider, cutter, and changeup mix. He gets plenty of ride on the fastball, and the slider/cutter pitch is one of the nastiest in the organization. If he can control the walk rate in 2024, he could provide some much needed starting pitching depth in the upper-minors.