And Belly to Belly
Boone’s Spring Training lineups have shown his ability to buck convention but bring up a host of questions.
We have seen a lot of Judge and Giancarlo Stanton batting back-to-back, and even fellow righty Gary Sanchez after them; is Boonie ready to bat three righties in a row?
That might make sense against Boston’s lethal line-up of lefties, but what happens when their mostly-righty relievers come into the game? Or does it matter because of the quality of the Yankees batters?
Perhaps this is purely a masking agent. When the season starts, will we see a more conventional batting order, with a lefty like Bird hitting between Judge and Stanton? But would that put Didi Gregorius in the five hole and Gary in the six?
It cannot be a good thing for the man most are calling the Yankees best hitter to bat that low in the order.
The point for this article, though, is not how the line-up is eventually set, but how it will then allow us to understand Boone’s thoughts on hitting, as well as lineups during the pre-season. Is he showing his hand or hiding his cards? How does he think and what will that mean down the road?
And who is Aaron Boone, really, this new Yankees manager?
We will need some time to truly figure that one out. But some things we know right now.