Yankees’ Current Duo Shines, Reminds of Judge and Soto
It seems we won’t witness another pairing like Aaron Judge and Juan Soto together in a lineup for a while, similar to what we saw with the Yankees two years ago.
That dynamic duo came to mind again when the two sluggers embraced on the field Friday during the first game of the Subway Series at Citi Field.
However, Judge’s current collaboration with his fellow left-handed teammates is certainly noteworthy.
As of Saturday, Judge and Ben Rice are the second pair of teammates in franchise history to hit 14 home runs during the Yankees’ first 45 games in a season.
And who was the first?
Instead of Judge and Soto, we might think back to Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris from that legendary 1961 season, when both players aimed to break Babe Ruth’s home run record, with Maris eventually accomplishing it.
Since 2008, the only duo to achieve something similar was George Springer and Alex Bregman of the Astros in 2019, who combined for 31 home runs that season.
Lately, Judge and Rice have been impactful, with Rice entering Saturday having hit 10 home runs in his last 23 games, while Judge added 13 homers over his last 31 games.
As Aaron Boone pointed out on Friday, Soto is still “one of the best hitters in the game.”
Yet, it increasingly looks like Rice might be joining that elite company as well.
Rice, a left-handed hitter, held a 1.092 OPS against left-handed pitchers, which is nearly as impressive as his 1.109 OPS against right-handers.
This represents a significant leap from his .752 batting average against left-handed pitchers last season, though he still maintained a solid .860 average against right-handed ones.
Boone praised Rice’s performance, describing it as “amazing.”
“He had a fantastic at-bat,” Boone said. “He’s consistently shown stable at-bats since the start of the season, hitting for power and controlling the strike zone. He can bat lefty and righty. Over the past six or seven weeks, he’s truly become one of the best in the sport.”
The statistics support this assessment: Rice leads the majors with a 1.104 OPS and a .686 slugging percentage, placing fourth in on-base percentage with .418.
He’s also making harder contact than he did last year.
Wearing the same No. 22 that Soto once donned with the Yankees and now sports with the Mets, Rice and Judge were crucial in launching a three-run rally in the top of the third inning against their former teammate Clay Holmes.
After losing an ABS challenge, Rice hit a single to right, followed by Judge’s base hit to the opposite field.
Cody Bellinger then stepped up and hit a double, bringing in two runs, while Jazz Chisholm Jr. added two more with another double over to right field.
This season, no one on the roster has more hits or RBIs than Rice or Judge.
While they still have a long way to go to match the combined impact of Judge and Soto from two seasons ago, the beginning of this partnership with Rice looks promising.
