TAMPA — Wednesday marked four weeks and a day away from Opening Day, so there is still plenty of time for Aaron Boone to change his mind or wrenches to be thrown into his plan.
But the Yankees manager may have tipped his hand as to what his lineup — or most of it, at least — will look like on March 30 against the Giants at Yankee Stadium.
For Wednesday’s Grapefruit League exhibition against the Nationals at Steinbrenner Field, Boone rolled out a lineup with second baseman DJ LeMahieu leading off, followed by Aaron Judge, Anthony Rizzo, Giancarlo Stanton, Josh Donaldson and Harrison Bader.
The bottom-third of the lineup — left fielder Aaron Hicks, catcher Kyle Higashioka and shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa — figures to be a bit more fungible, especially with shortstop and, perhaps to a lesser extent, left field open for competition in camp.
But on the whole, for a spring training game, it might have been about as close as it gets to an Opening Day lineup.
“Yeah, could be,” Boone said after the Yankees’ 4-2 win over the Nationals. “Obviously Gleyber [Torres] would be in that mix. Shortstop’s still up for grabs, though, and left field. You never know. We’re [29] days away. But obviously today, having a lot of guys that, if healthy, are going to be playing a lot of games.”
Boone wrote out 146 different batting orders last season — which was only the 17th-most in the majors — but the most consistent spots were LeMahieu batting first (89 games), Judge batting second (112), Rizzo batting third (90) and Stanton batting fourth (77).
LeMahieu’s late-season foot injury eliminated him from being an option at the leadoff spot down the stretch and into the playoffs, when Judge took on a lion’s share of those responsibilities — which didn’t hurt in his chase for 62 home runs.
While Boone said it was “conceivable” that Judge could hit leadoff on the days LeMahieu is off, it’s clear that the manager favors LeMahieu at the top of his lineup.
“He’s so good hitting in front of Aaron, because he’s not afraid to get to two strikes,” Boone said. “There were so many at-bats last year where he got in a 3-1 count where it’s like, the hitter in you, he’ll take a pitch, even if it means getting to 3-2, just knowing who was behind him. It’s like, ‘I’m going to do all I can to get on.’ Before he got injured, he was about .400 on-base. That’s what you want out of the leadoff hitter, somebody that’s getting on.”
LeMahieu, who went 1-for-2 on Wednesday and again declared himself healthy as he hit another marker in his comeback with his spring debut, said he enjoys batting leadoff but is not tied to it.
It is where he has hit most often in his major league career.
“It’s awesome to see him up there,” Stanton said. “He’s a force for us and he’s a menace for other pitchers. For him to wear those guys down to start off the day for those guys does a lot.”
Torres has also seen time out of the leadoff spot — including four of the Yankees’ nine playoff games last October. Bader and Rizzo hit first in other playoff games, too, though Boone said Wednesday he views Bader more in the middle-to-bottom half of the lineup.
That bottom half may play a factor in just how potent the Yankees lineup can be — if Hicks is able to put together a bounce-back season and take advantage of restricted shifts; if Jose Trevino and Higashioka are able to find more consistency; and if Oswald Peraza or Anthony Volpe ends up overtaking Kiner-Falefa at shortstop.
Of course, last year’s lineup was still top five in the majors in runs (second), home runs (first) and OPS (fourth).
“When we’re all out there, it’s a force to be reckoned with,” Stanton said. “So just work off these days. As many days as we can get close to our full lineup out there, it’s a fun look and preview for the year.”
