For the second straight season, the Yankees have the best outfield in baseball. Having the best hitter on the planet is an excellent starting point. This level of dominance can't all come from Aaron Judge, though. Last season, Juan Soto paired with Judge as an all-time 1-2 offensive punch. It seemed almost impossible for the outfield to match last year's .266/.377/.516 line after losing Soto to free agency.
They've instead improved upon that monster production through this season's first two months. Yankee outfielders carry a .293/.380/.533 slash. They lead MLB with 37 home runs and trail only the Cubs with 113 runs batted in. They're handily above the rest of the league in all three slash stats. The Cubs are the only team that is particularly close in terms of FanGraphs' Wins Above Replacement.
Judge somehow elevating from a .322/.458/.701 performance is the biggest factor. Yet the Yankees have largely offset the loss of production from Soto -- at least so far -- by not having anyone close to last season's weak link, Alex Verdugo. That's a testament mostly to Cody Bellinger and Trent Grisham, each of whom have gotten out to excellent starts. (Jasson Domínguez has decent numbers overall as well, though most of that comes from a three-homer barrage in Sacramento on May 9.) The early paces from Bellinger and Grisham provide the Yankees needed lineup depth around Judge and Paul Goldschmidt. They're also significant factors for what looks to be a shallow upcoming free agent class behind Kyle Tucker.
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Never heard of any of these guys and don’t watch baseball. How do I get to hoops rumors
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Part of your issue might be too much repetition, maybe at least put a middle initial/ name between Stevie and Steve. Maybe “B” or “who?”
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I have had this username since I started dating my girlfriend Joy Lane… but now she’s left me and it’s all I have left to remind me of her
Gotta get jazz at 3rd bench DJ.
Jazz isn’t very good playing 3B he played much better at 2B. As for DJ he hasn’t played 3B at all this season just 2B. DJ has had the better glove at 3B over course of his career but was awful there last yr.
Unless they add another IF it looks like Jazz and DJ will both be playing. In that case it would seem DJ at 3B and Jazz at 2B would make most sense.
@Stevie… Feels like your comment are lyrics are to a song that I don’t know, please carry on, one day at a time.
Having jazz (Miles n Coltrane) on the left is always a good thing.
All Rise!
He’s the best baseball player in the league, without question.
I do love how the networks won’t even call Judge the greatest hitter right now – they say “greatest right-handed hitter of the last 100 years” to make sure the Ohtani cash cow machine is not adversely affected.
Are you implying big O is over rated ?
mlb.com/news/5th-hitter-power-rankings-of-2025
And then there’s Ohtani, who might just win his third straight MVP Award, something only Barry Bonds has ever done. Ohtani leads the Majors with 20 home runs, putting him on track for even more than the 54 he hit last year. He has 11 stolen bases, too, so he’s close to a 60-30 pace. No one’s ever had a season like that, but this is Ohtani we’re talking about.
When Ohtani isn’t pitching, Judge is the best player in the league and it’s not particularly close.
Captain Mike: No, I don’t think he’s overrated, per se. He’s a phenomenal player, and has accomplished something very, very few players have with both pitching and hitting at the major league level. The difference with Ohtani is that he does both exceptionally well.
But, Ohtani isn’t pitching, and hasn’t for the obvious reason. As a DH-only, he’s great, but Judge is better.
The article is well-done, but I’m not as impressed with the 60/30, or 50/50 because they shortened the distance between the bags and they are larger, making it easier to steal. I don’t think they can be used to compare to past players in terms of record-setting numbers. To me, it’s like giving Judge 20 extra games and then being surprised when he breakers the HR record.
Memo to the headline writer: Its free agent stock (singular, mot plural). That’s all, carry on.
Could go either way grammatically.
Not, not “mot”.
To follow up the nitpicking, shouldn’t your period go on left side of ending quotation?
“mot.”
The Yankees are clipping out coupons now. It will be either Grisham or Bellinger re-signing in the off-season, both re-signing are unlikely.
“The Yankees are clipping out coupons”…At least Belli didn’t suddenly become one of MLB’s best hitters like Grisham. Trent Grisham’s huge spike in production is well timed for his free agency.
Beware of guys who become twice as good in their walk years. Until this year, Alex Verdugo had outperformed Grish offensively for several years, but magically not during Grish’s walk year.
Like I said it’s either one or the other. Unless Bellinger stays with his player option. If not, he’s likely a goner. Grisham would be great to re-sign if he can continue to hit the way he has. I think Belli stays and Grisham leaves.
Gotta pay DJLM.
Belli doesn’t need to re-sign with a $25M player option for ’26. If Grish can keep up his bat production this season, he’s going to get a multi-year deal to be a starting centerfielder somewhere. If Belli opts-out, they should try to sign Grish again. Belli is on pace for a 4+ WAR season so that’s a strong possibility right now.
*It’s
The Cubs have the best OF in all of baseball. Definitely not the Yankees. They only have 1 great OF.
Who hurt you?
Bellinger is making a high AAV for his lack of consistency. Don’t think anyone is going to go crazy if he opts out no matter what big l-t number he and Boras try to throw out to the media like last time.
Like mlbfan said about Grisham, run for the hills on crazy contract year outliers. It only takes 1, but that’s how FO personnel get fired giving great money to okay players.
“Meanwhile” has to start the sentence, not come in the middle between two commas.