Aaron Boone Considers Seismic Shift to Yankees' Lineup

Judge and Soto have been the Yankees' two best hitters by far this season. In fact, in terms of OPS, Judge (1.157) and Soto (1.019) have been MLB's two best hitters.

Boone has had left-handed Alex Verdugo hitting leadoff of late. He puts Soto after that, Judge in the three-hole, and then catcher Austin Wells batting cleanup.

"I look at it as a lineup as a whole and what makes the most sense for us scoring runs,” Boone added of his lineup construction, per the New York Post. “Scoring runs, we’ve been doing a really good job of that, whether they’re putting on Judge or not.

"So it’s more just — I obsess on trying to have as much balance as I can. So that’ll factor in. Getting [Giancarlo Stanton] back into the mix and getting him going again could factor into that too, when you look at those first four or five hitters in the lineup," he said.

Stanton recently returned to the Yankees' lineup after missing about a month of action due to a strained left hamstring. His returning to the form he showed before his injury would add crucial depth to New York's lineup.

“All things I pay attention to," Boone said about how he can mix and match his Yankees hitters. "But I also feel like offensively we’re in a pretty good place right now that I don’t want to upset it too much. But being mindful of how do we optimize Aaron and Juan the best we possibly can.” 

New York currently has MLB's second-most runs per game in 2024, with 5.13. They'll look to increase that stat during Thursday's game against the Angels.