Yankees' Jasson Dominguez says shoulder 'better' after wall collision

NEW YORK – As he pursued a deep first inning fly ball on May 7, Jasson Dominguez’s every step brought him closer to Yankee Stadium’s left field wall.

“I knew I was close,’’ said the Yankees outfielder.

“But I didn’t think I was that close to the wall. That’s why I hit it so hard.’’

Dominguez held onto the ball, but the price of that catch against the Texas Rangers was a strained AC joint (left shoulder) and a trip to concussion protocol.

On Wednesday, nearly two weeks after that violent collision, Dominguez began hitting baseballs off a tee.

“Still (feels) a little uncomfortable,’’ Dominguez said of his swings, though “it’s better’’ than when he began taking dry swings a few days ago.

Dominguez said there were no concussion-related symptoms; his shoulder took the force of that crash into the unpadded matrix portion of the wall.

“In the moment, you just go for the ball. No time to think about that,’’ said Dominguez, who has since watched the replays. “It was scary to see that.’’

Dominguez was in his ninth game of the season, having reclaimed his big-league roster spot and some regular playing time with Giancarlo Stanton (right calf strain) on the injured list.

But that sudden collision with the wall landed Dominguez on the IL, and there is no current timetable for his return to the lineup – whether it’s in the Bronx, or back in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

Slugging prospect Spencer Jones was called up to replace Dominguez, and the lefty hitter was 3-for-20 (.150) with no homers and 11 strikeouts in his first eight MLB games.

Sidelined since April 25, Stanton has been taking indoor at-bats off the Trajekt machine, but he’s not yet cleared to run, based on the results of last week’s comparison MRI.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Yankees' Jasson Dominguez gives update on injury