Today, for better or worse, in the meaningless universe of spring training, the legend of Jasson Dominguez begins anew

Well, here we go again, Martian style...

Last time Jasson Dominguez appeared in a minor league game, he had what you might call a manifestation. 

It was last fall, the same night that Aaron Judge hit his 62nd HR. Dominguez led the Somerset Patriots to the Eastern League playoffs championship game, hitting two HRs - one from each side - and driving in six runs - a career high - in a 15-0 rout of the dreaded Erie Whateverthefucks. 

For three years, Yank fans had navigated an avalanche of ridiculous hype over a Latino teen millionaire signee - arguably the most money ever paid to a 16-year-old that didn't involve Kevin Spacey - with a press agent's fantasy nickname, "The Martian." We ate it with a knife and fork, even though we knew we were being played. 

For three years we watched the kid turn from a fleet, lithe CF into a musclebound fireplug, wondering if we were watching the next Mickey Mantle or the next Mickey Rourke. Then Dominguez had The Game. 

Get this: After Dominguez homered in his first two at bats - both of them moon shots - so pants-pissing traumatized was Erie that he received the kind of treatment designed for Judge or Barry Bonds. 

Next time up, he was walked on four pitches with the bases loaded. 

Next time after that, on a 3-1 count, Dominguez swung at a pitch out of the strike zone, grounding to first. 

In the eighth, his final shot at a three-homer game, he was again walked on four pitches. Basically, they became Lake Erie.  

Over five Eastern League postseason games, the 19-year-old Dominguez went 9 for 20 with three HRs, four extra base hits, five walks, seven runs scored and 10 RBIs.

And today he will start in the outfield against Philadelphia. 

As of today, I am officially leaning into the Dominguez hype beast. I know it's crapola. I know it's potentially mind-rotting, that it could ruin the kid, and that almost nothing good likely will come from it. Dominguez still must prove himself at Double A and then Scranton. He still strikes out too often (about 30 percent of the time.) He's a year away, at best.

Last year, over three levels of minor league ball, Dominguez batted .273 with 16 HRs and  37 SBs. Those are not the numbers of stardom. But he's ours, we've watched him from a tadpole, he just turned 20 two weeks ago, and he's the only guy I've ever heard of with an extraterrestrial nickname. 

So, we all have a choice here. We can be stupidly optimistic or conveniently cynical. Take your pick. Either way, he's there for us to watch: Another great diversion known as baseball. I don't know how many more years I'll have to root for the Yankees, and whether I will live long enough to see a championship team - or a homegrown star. Dominguez surely might prove to be nothing. But we might as well enjoy every moment. We have ring side seats, and a whole community to weigh in with.

And today, it begins anew.