Aaron Boone New York Yankees
(Photo by Hunter Martin/Getty Images)

Spring training is a time to experiment with lineups and New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone hinted a big experiment with Aaron Judge

Dom Renna

New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone is flirting with the idea of batting slugger Aaron Judge against left-handed pitching in 2019, via Jack Curry of the YES Network.

This is not the first time Boone floated the idea around.

He did the same thing a year ago, but ultimately never ended up using Judge in the leadoff spot a year ago. As a matter of fact, Judge has only hit leadoff once in his entire career.

Like the table showcases, the majority of Judge’s at-bats, and damage, throughout his career have come from the number two spot in the lineup. So you must be asking yourself why would Boone flirt with the idea of moving Judge up a spot?

The Yankees do not have a legitimate/prototypical leadoff on their roster at the moment and probably won’t deploy one all season. So it only makes sense to use to use someone like Judge who posts a career .398 on-base percentage at the top of the lineup against a left-hander?

What really makes this move intriguing is how Boone can use Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Gary Sanchez as his first three batters when facing a left-handed starter.

Judge deploys a career slugging percentage of .529 against left-handed starters, while Sanchez posts a .554 slugging percentage, and Stanton a .611 slugging percentage. Not only is the slugging percentages impressive, but the three of them have combined to hit 140 home runs facing starting southpaws.

Now there are still plenty of scenarios that have the unfold before Boone can commit to 1-2-3 punch of Judge, Stanton, and Sanchez. The Yankees will need to see major improvement before moving Sanchez up in the order and Judge and Stanton still have to prove the two of them can hit back-to-back in the order.

While this is clearly still a long shot, it’s an idea worth giving a try.

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Dominick is a graduate of Canisius College. He has covered the Rangers for the last seven seasons and the Yankees for the last four.