Jasson Dominguez broke into a wide smile and paused a second as he decided upon his answer.
The question — Any goals for this season? — was leading.
Plenty of Yankees fans already want the 20-year-old in the majors, while the club has decided the hyped prospect will begin the season with Double-A Somerset.
“My goal for this season is just stay healthy,” Dominguez said from TD Bank Ballpark in Bridgewater, N.J., on Thursday, when his season opener was rained out. “Control what I can control.”
The man known as “The Martian” is not publicly campaigning for his landing in The Bronx, but the hype would accelerate nonetheless if he picks up where he left off in spring training.
Dominguez tore up his first major league camp, launching four home runs and hitting .455 in 25 plate appearances in the Grapefruit League — somehow building upon expectations that have always seemed impossible to reach.
Dominguez was signed to a franchise-record $5.1 million bonus out of the Dominican Republic in 2019, when the switch-hitting center fielder heard comparisons to Mickey Mantle and came pre-packaged with his out-of-this-world nickname.
Because of the pandemic, he didn’t make his professional debut until 2021, when he had an up-and-down season with Low-A Tampa.
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He broke through last year, when he hit a combined 16 home runs, stole 37 bases, posted an .837 OPS and touched Double-A by the season’s end.
“He’s certainly a lot closer now,” manager Aaron Boone said last month, “and certainly on our radar with how the last 12 months have gone.”
Dominguez is just 20, but the Yankees did not let Anthony Volpe’s 21 years of age bar him from becoming their everyday shortstop.
Dominguez, who has gone through the system a level behind Volpe, said he is “so happy” for his pal, but he is trying not to look too far ahead.
“That kind of decision is not on me,” Dominguez said in English, a second language that he is speaking well. “I just focus on doing my job.”
His job this season is expected to include more variety.
Dominguez, the organization’s No. 2 prospect (behind Volpe), has only played center field in his two professional seasons, but the Yankees want to begin moving him around.
Dominguez said he has started taking reps in left field and feels “good about it.”
The Yankees, of course, could have a hole in left, where Oswaldo Cabrera and Aaron Hicks have seen time.
Among major leaguers who had entered a game this season before Thursday’s action, only St. Louis’ Jordan Walker (turning 21 in May) could not legally drink.
Volpe, Colorado’s Ezequiel Tovar and Baltimore’s Gunnar Henderson comprise the 21-year-olds, all top prospects who zoomed through their organizations’ systems.
Dominguez is a young 20, with a February birthday, but made plenty of noise in spring.
The Yankees have been thrilled with his makeup, tools and plate discipline, sending him to Double-A with the message of building reps, rather than improving in a single area.
He played just five games with Somerset last season after hammering pitching he saw in Low-A Tampa and High-A Hudson Valley.
“My decisions at the plate, what pitches are good to hit,” Dominguez said about his plate approach, which resulted in as many spring strikeouts (three) as walks. “I think that’s one thing that’s helped me a lot.”
He said shagging fly balls with center fielder Harrison Bader, a Gold Glover, helped, too.
But his favorite aspect about his first spring training on the major league side was the company he kept.
“The best part is [just] being there,” Dominguez said before listing players he knew from TV before he actually met them. “Being able to see those guys — I never thought before I would be in the same clubhouse as [Aaron] Judge or Anthony Rizzo or [Josh] Donaldson. That’s the best part about it.”
He did not want to publicly predict when he could share a clubhouse with those guys again.