Yankees show how tough their lineup can be on pitchers
Yankees' Juan Soto celebrates with third base coach Travis Chapman, left, after hitting a home run in the fourth inning of a spring training baseball game against Atlanta Sunday, March 10, 2024, in Tampa, Fla. Credit: AP/Charlie Neibergall
TAMPA, Fla.
The exact order of the Yankees’ lineup for Opening Day remains in flux to some degree. But if manager Aaron Boone is able to run out the same group he did for Sunday’s matinee at Steinbrenner Field, a reasonable guesstimate of what we’ll see March 28 against the Astros at Minute Maid Park, you can predict one thing with a fair amount of certainty: pain.
No need to get too analytical here. To witness Juan Soto punish the baseball as he did on his three-run blast in the fourth inning had to have Yankees officials high-fiving upstairs as much as the players in the dugout below.
On this day, Soto was in the No. 2 spot, the ideal perch with Aaron Judge behind him and presumably his home for the regular season. But Soto, an on-base machine, was more focused on clearing them this time, and he hammered a 447-foot rocket that left the building entirely — landing only a few feet short of Dale Mabry Highway well beyond the rightfield wall.
To get that far, Soto’s blast (exit velo: 112.2 mph) had to soar over a party deck that stands 30 feet above the turf. No wonder he took a moment to admire the ball’s flight, as did everyone in pinstripes.
“Wow,” Boone said. “That’s how I used to not hit them. Just a really special swing.”
Soto wasn’t available after the game, as players removed before the final out sometimes tend to get a jump on the traffic. But he left plenty of gawking teammates in his wake to describe the spectacle, including a former MVP who already seems more than happy to be setting up shop in the No. 3 hole.
Judge isn’t used to being the kind of footnote he was Sunday, striking out twice before taking a planned early exit (Trent Grisham replaced him for his at-bat in the fourth inning). No worries. The captain said he was fine afterward. But with Soto grinding out at-bats, Judge and even Anthony Rizzo, who batted cleanup Sunday, are going to reap the benefits. Soto also smacked the Yankees’ first hit, a 110.6-mph single to center during his opening at-bat.
“I think when you have a guy like that at the top of the order — he’s so dynamic, man,” Judge said. “He hits the ball all over the field, works a walk, hits for power. I think it just elevates everybody’s game.”
If this is a preview of what Soto’s walk year is going to look like, even for a one-season rental, the Padres got robbed. And $500 million is where the bids will start come November.
Through seven games, Soto is batting .500 (9-for-18) with two doubles, four home runs, 10 RBIs and a 1.828 OPS. You can say this was Soto’s expected production, but to actually see it happen? That's different from reading stats on paper.
“Every time he’s up, he never gives away [at-bats],” said Sunday’s starter, Clarke Schmidt. “It’s really special to watch. He’s probably the most advanced hitter in the game.”
Schmidt instantly put the Yankees in a 4-0 hole during a rocky first inning, but they dug out of it almost as quickly, displaying a combination of situational hitting — a point of emphasis from new coach James Rowson — and raw power.
The Yankees relied on the bottom half of the order for two runs in the second inning, with RBIs coming from Alex Verdugo’s hustle infield single and Jose Trevino’s sacrifice fly in his Grapefruit League debut. In the fourth, they teed things up for Soto with Verdugo’s leadoff walk, Trevino’s single, a bunt hit by Oswaldo Cabrera from the No. 9 spot (road warrior Anthony Volpe had the day off) and DJ LeMahieu’s two-run single.
Then, after the Yankees’ small-ball attack, Soto provided the thunder. But he wasn’t the only one bringing the noise. The slimmed-down Giancarlo Stanton, who entered Sunday hitting .067 (1-for-15), smoked two laser shots, a 110.0-mph double to help fuel the second-inning rally and a 101.9-mph single in the sixth.
“There’s never going to be a lead too far away for this lineup,” Stanton said.
Hold that thought, because the Yankees’ starting staff — other than Gerrit Cole, of course — has plenty to prove in the area of run prevention. Schmidt even alluded to the Yankees’ muscular lineup taking pressure off the rotation, just as they bailed him out Sunday.
“I think it’s going to make our jobs a lot easier,” Schmidt said. “A lot of times for us, as starters, if we just get to the fifth inning, we’ll be in line for the win with how this offense looks.”
These Yankees are not some March mirage. We knew the addition of Soto was going to supercharge a lineup that sputtered through various medical issues last season. Even though Judge had zero impact at the plate (two strikeouts, four swings, one foul ball), Sunday’s combined effort really showcased the potential for a very dangerous group of hitters. And the games that count don’t start for 2 1/2 weeks, which means the Yankees have to make sure everyone stays intact for Houston.
“We just got to keep them healthy and going,” Boone said, “And if we can do that, I do feel like we’re going to score a lot.”
The Yankees traded for Soto with that in mind. Only now is it becoming a reality.
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
