Aaron Boone just isn’t ready to do that right now.
But the Yankees manager said Wednesday that he has at least considered swapping Aaron Judge and Juan Soto in the batting order “over the last couple weeks.”
Boone said he was hesitant to part with either Judge or Soto, who had the top two OPS ratings in the major leagues as of Wednesday (Judge 1.157, Soto 1.035), but would consider such a move if it would help the lineup overall.
That idea may have gained more traction recently after the Blue Jays took Judge’s bat multiple times over the weekend and the Yankees struggled to make him redeem himself.
The Angels walked Judge three times in Wednesday’s doubleheader, including an intentional walk with two outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the eighth inning of Game 1 with the Angels trailing 2-5.
If Soto hits third base, Judge would theoretically have even more pitches to hit for a second.
“I look at the lineup as a whole and see what makes the most sense to score runs,” Boone said before Wednesday’s doubleheader at the Bronx. “We’ve done a really good job with or without Judge as far as scoring runs, so I’m just trying to get as much balance as possible. That’s going to be a factor. [Giancarlo Stanton] Looking at the first four or five hitters in the lineup, him being able to get back in the mix and get back in action could also be a factor.
“I’m keeping an eye on everything, but I feel like we’re in pretty good shape offensively right now so I don’t want to take too much away from that. But I’m keeping an eye on how we can get the best possible use out of Aaron and Juan.”
Alex Verdugo is the Yankees’ new leadoff hitter.
With Soto’s addition, the lineup will have two left-handed hitters at the top of the lineup and three left-handed hitters in the top four, with Austin Wells batting cleanup behind Judge.
But if Stanton can return to the threat he was before he went on the disabled list, Boone could potentially deploy a lineup that starts with Verdugo, Judge, Soto, Stanton and Wells and alternates between lefties and righties.
Boone said it will be “at least a few weeks” before the Yankees make a decision on what to do at first base after Anthony Rizzo recovers from a broken arm.
Rizzo took batting practice on Tuesday but is still in the warm-up phase with Ben Rice and DJ LeMahieu at first base.
“We will continue to gather information and try to steer the Ritz in the right direction,” Boone said. “We look forward to that decision being made.”
Clark Schmidt (latissimus strain) threw 20 practice pitches the next day, felt good and is scheduled to pitch again Saturday.
Before their opener on Wednesday, the Yankees held a moment of silence for Billy Beane, MLB’s senior vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion, who died Tuesday at age 60 after a year-long battle with leukemia.
“First of all, he’s a great guy,” Boone said. “It’s definitely a sad day for our sport, but he’s created the position that the commissioner created for him a few years ago and brought tolerance to our sport. Instead of always focusing on the differences, understand that we have a lot of common ground between us. Billy was definitely someone who brought people together and helped make a difference in that regard. He will be missed by a lot of people in our sport, but also by a lot of people within our organization who were close to him.”
