TAMPA — After years of badgering Aaron Boone about wanting to hit third, Aaron Judge may get his way on a more regular basis this season.
On his former hitting coach Sean Casey’s podcast, “The Mayor’s Office with Sean Casey,” Judge said he would “love to hit third” behind Juan Soto in the Yankees lineup after mostly being locked into the two-hole in recent years.
“I may be old school in that fact, but all the great hitters when I was growing up watching, you want to be a three-hitter,” Judge said. “You want to be that guy coming up third, the big heavy hitter in the back. We have so much depth now. There’s not an easy part of our lineup now.
“I’d love to hit third, especially with how much Soto gets on [base]. He’s an on-base and base-hit machine. Plus the power — he’s going to give you 30-plus homers every year. But when he’s walking over 100 times and driving in 100, that’s who you want to hit behind. I might be fighting him [for third]. I want to hit behind him.”
Boone on Friday said that Judge’s asking to hit third “has been going on about six years now.”
“He might get his wish finally,” Boone said with a grin. “In the end, whatever I decide, he’s usually good with. Even in the year he hit 62 [home runs] and we were beat up a little in the second half, I was leading him off. It wasn’t to get the home run title. It was just where we were lineup-wise and injury-wise, it made the most sense. [But] he always sneaks in a, ‘What about third?’ on me quite a bit.”
Count Nestor Cortes among those who have been impressed by what they have seen early from Carlos Rodon.
The two left-handers have been working out together at the Yankees’ complex since early January and Cortes is encouraged by what he has seen.
“Seeing Rodon last year and seeing him this year, it’s night and day,” Cortes said. “I would say his command [is better] and obviously his velo’s up from last year. Last spring, he was like 92 [mph] maybe. I saw him touch [97] the other day. So that’s encouraging for him. I know that’s where he wants to be.”
The Yankees on Friday claimed righty reliever McKinley Moore off waivers from the Phillies.
The 25-year-old, who has a pair of minor league options remaining, made his MLB debut last season and allowed seven runs across 3 ¹/₃ innings and three appearances.
To make room on the 40-man roster, the Yankees placed Lou Trivino (Tommy John surgery rehab) on the 60-day injured list.