For Yankees' Jasson Dominguez, it's all good

SAN FRANCISCO — All reports regarding Jasson Dominguez’s rehab with Double-A Somerset continue to trend positive.

The centerfielder, who underwent Tommy John surgery last September for a UCL tear in his right elbow after playing only eight major-league games, entered Saturday night’s game against Bowie hitting .333 with three homers and a .959 OPS in eight games. (Dominguez added homer No. 4 and bumped his OPS to 1.054 in the fifth inning Saturday night.)

The switch hitter homered righthanded Friday night and lefthanded Saturday night.

“Very good,” one rival scout assigned to the Yankees’ minor- league system said. “He will be ready soon. Has taken some good swings lefthanded, and [Friday’s homer] righthanded was a bomb.”

Dominguez spent roughly the first two weeks of his rehab, which started with four games with Class A Tampa, exclusively at DH before starting to play the field this past week.

His 20-day rehab clock expires early next week. At that point, he will stay in the minors (he could be sent to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre) for the foreseeable future.

That is because the Yankees’ starting outfield of Alex Verdugo, Aaron Judge and Juan Soto has been among the most productive in baseball. And the seldom-used Trent Grisham, a plus defender, isn’t going anywhere.

Barring injury, there simply isn’t an avenue to consistent playing time for Dominguez, who has all of eight major-league games and nine Triple-A games under his belt.

“It’s gone really well,” Aaron Boone said of Dominguez’s time with Somerset. “It’s been in line with, really, how the whole rehab process for him has gone. There haven’t really been many hiccups along the way, it’s been smooth. He’s in great shape and the buildup has gone well. I talked to Omar Minaya [a special adviser to general manager Brian Cashman] this morning. He was down in Somerset the last couple of days . . . [Dominguez is] in a really good frame of mind, is playing well. Excited about his progress.”

Dominguez, speaking to reporters Friday, said: “I feel really good. My arm feels really good right now. The progression has been great. We’re just taking things day by day and every day I feel a little bit better.”

Of currently being more or less blocked from joining the major-league roster, Dominguez said it’s not something he’s concerned about.

“I can’t control that,” he said. “It is what it is. I’m just playing and continuing to make my progression each day, and when the time comes, we’ll see what happens.”

Cole latest

It is not yet official, but word around the organization is that Gerrit Cole, who has been throwing in Tampa at the club’s minor-league complex, is set to begin a rehab assignment early this week, likely on Tuesday with Class A Tampa (though Somerset also is a possibility). Cole’s most recent outing was a 43-pitch simulated game at the complex, after which he said a rehab game being next seems “like the direction it’s going.”