Domingo German: Struggling in the DR

Photo from Empire Sports Media

Domingo German has some issues going on down in the Dominican Republic Winter League. Many notable young players take the trip down there for the winter to enhance their skills and get ready for the MLB season. In most cases, their goal is to start for an MLB team in the coming spring. However, the RHP went down there intending to prepare to be near the top of the Yankees rotation behind Gerrit Cole. Unfortunately for the Yankees, that is not looking probable. He missed the entire 2020 campaign due to a domestic violence suspension back in 2019. Even though Brian Cashman, at one time, thought he would be a number two stater in their rotation.

In the Dominican Winter League, Domingo has an ERA at 7.16. He is walking way too many people, BB9 of 5, but his K numbers are looking good at 9.9 per 9 innings. He has allowed 17 hits in 16.1 which translates to a terrible WHIP nearing 1.6. Other than that, nothing else pops out. Of course, I’m sure we would learn a lot if we had access to the more advanced stats, but that is not possible.

Hopefully for the Yankees, he can figure it out and there is still a high chance he will be able to do this considering he has only played in five games. The Yanks need him to return to his old form where he could put up an ERA of 4.00 and it seemed like he was learning how to truly pitch in the Majors.

This will be a very unpopular opinion, but I believe that we may soon see Domingo German make his way to the NPB. If he cannot figure it out soon, the Yankees will release him, and it will be interesting to see if another MLB team would claim him off of waivers. My prediction is predicated on the fact that the scenario will become that the Yankees feel as if they have no choice but to let him go; this is due to a combination of the domestic violence and where the clubs sit financially. That being said, he will soon earn more in arbitration than he is worth because that process only looks at MLB performance; it will not take into consideration the Dominican Winter League.

There is also the possibility that he figures it out next week and is a great number two for the Yankees. He could be off to this slow start due to missing a full season due to the suspension. German is a very talented pitcher and it will be interesting to see if he can figure it out soon.

This piece was written by Cade Carlson, a common contributor for Globally Ballin with an emphasis on international baseball.