Let's Talk Opening Day Configurations For The New York Yankees

  Most likely as Opening Day roles around for Aaron Boone and the New York Yankees, this is what the starting lineup is projected to look like on April 1st:

1) DJ LeMahieu-2B

2) Aaron Judge-RF

3) Aaron Hicks-CF

4) Giancarlo Stanton-DH

5) Luke Voit-1 B

6) Gleyber Torres-SS

7) Clint Frazier-LF 

8) Gary Sanchez-C

9) Gio Urshela-3B   

  Since it will be a little while longer until baseball gets underway in 2021, it is always fun to play around with the lineup as an "armchair manager".

  Here is another possibility that the New York Yankees could go with. This offense is fortunate enough to have a batting champ that has locked up the title in both leagues and the  American League homerun leader in there as well.   

  Why separate the two, you should have them hitting back-to-back atop the batting order. So in my version of the Opening Day lineup, it is DJ LeMahieu (batting champ) in the number one spot as the second baseman and he would be accompanied by first baseman Luke Voit (batting leader) in the number two hole. The fact that LeMahieu finished the 2020 season as the batting champion in the American League and Voit finished as the Yankees homerun champion should not be taken lightly, after all the two Yankee hitters are now among some serious names in history. As a matter of fact, they made the 2020 Yankees the first team since the 1959 Milwaukee Braves (Hank Aaron and Eddie Mathews) to feature both the Majors' homerun champ and batting leader. Case and point, those two elite hitters should be awarded for their effort by hitting as leaders within this lineup. (For more information on MLB's league leaders visit: https://www.mlb.com/news/mlb-league-leaders-for-2020-season)  

  From the number one and number two spots, Aaron Judge would be hitting in the number three spot as he would be manning right field. Yes, he has had injuries in the past, but he is a force to be reckoned with when he is healthy. We shouldn't forget this is an elite outfielder that has the capabilities to hit for power. Placing him in the three spot after the batting champ and a homerun leader just makes sense because Judge has captured the rookie of the year title, won a Silver Slugger Award, and he is a 2 time All-Star.  

  Since this team's batting order is very right handed heavy, it makes sense to use the switch hitter role as you see fit. Taking into consideration that Judge and Stanton are both guys that hit for power, but they have huge strikeout rates, Aaron Hicks who is the switching hitting center fielder will separate the two sluggers as the number four hitter. In this version of the Opening Day lineup Giancarlo Stanton will follow Hicks as the designated hitter in the fifth spot. With the new implementation of yoga to help Stanton and Judge stay on the diamond, we will see if the two sluggers stay on the field and provide the organization with slugging power that they were signed for. While it is worth noting that Aaron Boone placed Hicks as the number three hitter in the Opening Day lineup base on the fact that the center fielder made 32 of his 49 starts in that spot in 2020 for argument sake in this projected lineup, we are putting Hicks between the two sluggers to purely provide balance atop the order.  

  From the DH spot, we will now head to the outfielder. So, like in Aaron Boone's lineup, we will keep Clint Frazier as the starting left fielder and keep Brett Gardner on the bench. As a side note, even though Gardner will be riding the bench on April 1st, he will provide some lefty balance as the season progresses.

  Unlike Boone's lineup, this version will have the six and seven hitter switch, simply because Frazier can obviously hit for power and he would be able to pull through if Stanton goes down swing.  In actuality that would also be another reason to have hit after Judge as well.

  Following Frazier, Gleyber Torres would hold down the fort in the number seven spot because having the two of them hit in succession would create  a runner-in-scoring position situation, which something the Yankees need to capital on when they have it. It is pretty obvious that last season Gary Sanchez was in a deep slump on both the offensive and defensive side of things, so even though Boone has penciled him in at the number eight spot, we will have him sit out Opening Day and tab Kyle Higashioka with the Opening Day start. The reason for my roster change is simply because our ace Gerrit Cole will the starting pitcher on April 1st and well the Cole-Higgy duo just works.  

  Last, but definitely not least, third baseman Gio Urshela will take the ninth spot in this lineup. My reasoning for placing him here is probably the same reason why Boone placed him there. Urshela has become known for his glove work in the Bronx, but having him hit ninth provides the entire team with confidence that the batting order will be turned over and opposing pitching staff will have to navigate past the two of the league's most elite batting leaders again before having to go through the other guys.

  There is power from one through nine in this batting order and whether it is my projected lineup or Boone's blueprints for April 1st, I know once everyone is healthy and consistently attacking the strike zone while they work the count, this is the team to beat in their division and they have a shot at winning big.