Matt Dominguez is just 21 years old and spent last season hitting just .252 with a .744 OPS at Double-A, but the 2007 first-round pick looks set to skip Triple-A and win the Marlins’ starting job at third base.
In fact, according to Joe Frisaro of MLB.com “if the season opened today, Dominguez would be in the starting lineup.”
Dominguez’s defense has always drawn rave reviews and it sounds like that’s what has the Marlins convinced he’s their best option at third base, but he hasn’t been particularly impressive offensively this spring and projects to really struggle at the plate based on his age, lack of experience, and mediocre Double-A production.
Of course, Frisaro also writes about Dominguez’s “body language” and says he’s “handling himself well … not in a cocky way, but the California native is walking and acting like he belongs.”
Once teams and the writers that cover them start talking about that type of stuff for a young player, actual performance tends to go out the window. It also helps that the other options to play third base are pretty ugly and are led by Donnie Murphy, Wes Helms, and Greg Dobbs.
I’d lean toward letting one of those guys keep the position warm for a couple months while Dominguez gets some experience at Triple-A and delays the start of his service time to give the Marlins another season of team control down the line, but it sounds like they’re set on handing him the job right now.
