Jasson Dominguez arrived on the scene first as an international signing in July 2019 and then four-plus years later with a week of homers to serve as a late season highlight in an otherwise miserable 82-win season for the New York Yankees.

Now, the spotlight on him is still existent though not necessarily for his bat but more for his glove as in Dominguez learning how to defend a new position with his early forays as a left fielder in the opening weeks of spring training.

In the opening weeks, the Yankees learned Giancarlo Stanton is injured in both elbows and are waiting to see how third base shakes out. They also curiously seeing how much continued repetition can make Dominguez into an effective defensive left fielder.

Out of all the outfield positions left field seems to be the most challenging at Yankee Stadium. Perhaps it can explain how the Yankees have used a different player in left field for six straight opening days.

Alex Verdugo was the regular left fielder last season following a rare trade with the Boston Red Sox but was playing in his free agent year. His defense compensated for his struggles with the bat which is the reason why Dominguez did not see any time in left field during the 14 postseason games.

Dominguez spent his first 72 innings in his eight-game debut as a center fielder. After fully recovering from an elbow injury, he played 105 innings in a 13-game stint in left field in September, which is hardly enough of a sample size to throw a novice into the position during the high stakes of the postseason.

This is the purpose of exhibition games, and the Yankees are intent on seeing where Dominguez takes them in left field. On Thursday, Dominguez could not complete a catch on Edmundo Sosa’s drive to the warning track and it occurred after he took a bad route to a ball and lost the ball in the sun against the Detroit Tigers on Sunday.

This was not necessarily something that can be deemed a routine play since it was scorched at 106.1 mph against Carlos Rodon and the expected batting average was .890. On Sunday when he misplayed the flyball by Colt Keith, the exit velocity was 96.6 and the expected batting average was .160, two numbers that provide an indication of it being a routine flyball.

It was also something the Yankees cited when discussing the play.

“That’s about as tough a play as you’re going to have,” manager Aaron Boone told reporters. “I guess it’s always a story (about) every one that JD has, but that one’s top-spinning over your head, bullet, tough play. “So we’ll look at it. We still got work to do, obviously, but that’s about as tough of a chance as you’re going to have.”

On Sunday, Boone described the ball Dominguez did not get to in this way to reporters:

“It’s a gapper. But that’s where I think he can be really good, because he’s so athletic and because he’s so fast. That’s where we want to keep moving the needle.”

It is certainly not unreasonable to think Dominguez will become an effective left fielder. He has youth on his side being only 22 and being asked to go from center field to left field is a big move for anyone, especially someone with limited major league experience.

Dominguez is being groomed for the regular left field job and the Yankees are hoping his glove will match his bat, though even that aspect is still unproven with 24 games in the majors so far.

“I’ve been feeling better, but it’s still definitely something I’m working on,” Dominguez told reporters. “Obviously, you want to make every play, but it’s a process.”

The ability to make the plays in left field will be a process that will become among the more interesting storylines as spring training inches slowly towards the season opener on March 27 while baseball gets overshadowed by postseason college basketball. By then, the Yankees hope the balls Dominguez does not get to become less of a storyline and he winds up benefiting from more experience and becoming the regular left fielder for the foreseeable future.

Until then, the Yankees will hope Dominguez does well enough to avoid them using the backup plan of shifting Cody Bellinger from center field to left field and using Trent Grisham as the regular center fielder.