Aaron Decide, Anthony Rizzo (Photograph by Elsa/Getty Photographs)
If the Yankees do decide to make use of Giancarlo Stanton in proper subject, their lineup turns into deeper and higher. Right here’s the way it’d look on Opening Day.
The largest situation the New York Yankees had in the postseason final season was scoring runs. They managed to attain simply 9 runs of their sequence towards the Astros, 5 of which got here in the fourth and remaining recreation. If Aaron Decide wasn’t hitting a house run, the offense wasn’t doing a lot of something.
The Yankees must discover a technique to get extra constant hitting from the gamers they’ve on their roster, one being Giancarlo Stanton. The previous NL MVP has had a Yankees tenure stuffed with accidents and inconsistency. A technique Stanton believes he can enhance is that if he can play in the outfield again like he used to.
This can be a danger health-wise, and gained’t occur each single day, however one thing Aaron Boone and the Yankees have thought of is placing Stanton in proper and shifting reigning MVP Aaron Decide to left subject at Yankee Stadium. The Yankees open their season in the Bronx, so this alignment might be used. Let’s see how the lineup would form up whether it is.
1. Batting first for the Yankees as the DH D.J. Lemahieu
D.J. Lemahieu being out at the finish of final season positively harm the Yankees. They misplaced their leadoff hitter because of a foot situation that was plaguing the second half of his season. Lemahieu had a .786 OPS in the first half and was at his greatest in July, hitting .344, earlier than watching his manufacturing plummet in August and September.
When at his greatest, Lemahieu is a very good desk setter for the likes of Decide, Anthony Rizzo, and Stanton. The Yankees hope to get him at his greatest in 2023, and utilizing him at DH typically can assist him keep recent.
2. Batting second for the Yankees and taking part in LF Aaron Decide
The reigning MVP bats second, and that’s the place he ought to be 99% of the time when he’s in the lineup. Ideally, the Yankees would have a stronger backside of the order to create extra run-scoring alternatives for Decide, however he ought to get a good quantity of RBI probabilities with Lemahieu in entrance of him. He has to hit second as a result of it offers him extra at-bats in the long term. Extra Decide at-bats imply a better probability of scoring runs.
It’s unrealistic to anticipate Decide to have one other 60-home run season, however can he hit 50? The Yankees not including to this lineup and hoping that their prospects produce is a daring move, and in the event that they don’t accomplish that immediately, the staff might be in hassle. There’s a number of stress on Decide to have one other MVP 12 months. Doing so whereas taking part in a place he hasn’t performed since school is a reasonably large ask.
3. Batting third for the Yankees and taking part in 1B Anthony Rizzo
Anthony Rizzo has been slotted in between Decide and Stanton for a good quantity of his Yankees tenure and it ought to be no completely different in 2023. The previous World Collection champion was considered one of the few producers in the postseason for New York, and he had a very stable common season too.
His common was down at simply .224 however he walked 10.6% of the time and hit 32 residence runs in 130 video games. Rizzo ought to have a number of probabilities to drive in runs hitting behind Lemahieu and Decide, and I’d totally belief him to come back via in clutch conditions. Rizzo hit third most of the time final season and had his greatest numbers in that spot. Look out for one more 30+ season from him in 2023.
