Yankees' Jasson Dominguez starting in leftfield on Opening Day keeps trending in right direction

LAKELAND, Fla. — The standard for Jasson Dominguez to win the starting job in leftfield is to more or less show the Yankees he is capable of driving in more runs than he allows.

When it comes to the latter, it has been a roller coaster at times.

But it would take the unforeseen for the 22-year-old to not start in left, where he has shown gradual improvement throughout spring training, when the season opens March 27 at the Stadium against the Brewers.

“I feel like he’s done a good job,” Aaron Boone said before Thursday’s 8-6 victory over the Tigers at Publix Field. “In fact, there’s been a few plays he’s made lately, showing the range that you like to see, too, which is in line with what his work’s looked like.

“Just needs to play, just needs to keep getting the experience out there. He’ll be fine. But I think he’s been doing a good job these last week, 10 days especially.”

Has Dominguez done enough to be named the starter in left?

“I’d like to think so, yeah,” Boone said, engaging in a bit of word salad. “But we’ll see. We’re still two weeks to go [in camp]. Important days for him still in getting those reps and continuing to get that experience. But there’s no reason in time he shouldn’t be really good [out there], actually.”

Dominguez, who had a relatively quiet day in the field Thursday, had periodic struggles with his routes to fly balls in the first two weeks of games, but that has gotten better of late.

“I feel there’s definitely been an improvement,” said Dominguez, who hit one of the Yankees’ two home runs Thursday, a two-run shot. “I’ve been working every day and I can feel it.”

Said Boone: “I think his routes have been good lately. Real direct routes. When he does that, you see the speed and he’s able to really eat up ground that most guys that play out there don’t. And that’s just completing plays, just having that glove accuracy and everything, and I feel like that continues to improve.”

In Thursday’s fourth inning, the switch-hitting Dominguez’s bat, always the most-talked-about part of his game and the reason the Yankees want him in the lineup, pushed talk of route-running into the background.

Batting from the left side, Dominguez hammered an 0-and-1 changeup from righty Jackson Jobe deep to right for his second Grapefruit League homer.

“I don’t need reminding,” Boone said with a smile of Dominguez’s offensive skills. “He’s got that capability because I think he’s got the ability to control the strike zone with real power to all places. I think his righthanded swing’s getting better and better. Good to see him have a day like that.”

Max Fried, who signed as a free agent in December, said he knew of Dominguez when he joined the Yankees and has liked what he’s seen, both during games and in the outfielder’s work.

“Top prospect, really talented,” said Fried, who allowed one run and one hit in four innings in which he struck out three. “He makes a lot of really loud contact. Every time he swings the bat, it’s aggressive, from both sides of the plate. I know he’s learning a new position out in leftfield, but you see him putting in the work. He wants to be great at it. The work ethic is there.”

Notes & quotes: Though the Yankees haven’t said it outright, J.C. Escarra, who has yet to play in the majors, is all but certain to leave camp as the club’s backup catcher (and occasional DH). The 29-year-old, added to the 40-man roster in the offseason after impressing the Yankees — as well as rival scouts in the minors — last season with Double-A Somerset and Triple-A Scranton-Wilkes/Barre, quickly meshed with pitchers in spring training and has shown a live bat from the left side, hitting .357 with two homers and a .971 OPS in 11 games. “I think he’s very real,” Boone said . . . Paul Goldschmidt hit his third exhibition homer in the fourth inning, crushing an 0-and-1, 97-mph sinker by Jobe 447 feet over the batter’s eye in center. The first baseman hit a three-run double in the fifth to give the Yankees a 6-1 lead . . . The Yankees have settled on an Opening Day starter — either Marcus Stroman or Carlos Rodon are the safe bets — but Boone said on Thursday he wasn’t yet ready to say publicly who it will be.