MILWAUKEE — The middle of the Yankees’ lineup was a wasteland in Friday night’s walk-off loss to the Brewers.
And it’s not the first time.
Aaron Judge, Anthony Rizzo and Gleyber Torres — the Yankees’ 3-4-5 hitters — were a combined 0-for-14 with five strikeouts. Giancarlo Stanton had the night off, until he came off the bench and drilled a key RBI double in the 10th inning.
Out of those three, entering play on Saturday, Rizzo’s .231 batting average is the highest of the bunch. Judge and Torres are both hitting below the Mendoza line in 2024, one day away from the one-month mark of the season. All three have an OPS below .680, with Torres producing a measly .495 OPS.
Meanwhile, outfielder Alex Verdugo continues to excel and find his groove in the bottom half of the order. He homered on Friday night, slashing .327/.441/.545 (18-for-55) with six doubles, six RBI and 11 walks in his last 17 games.
As Verdugo has heated up, it’s grown more and more clear that he needed to hit higher in the lineup, a way to capitalize on more run-scoring opportunities. Credit to the Yankees for recognizing that as well, making a change on Saturday.
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Facing Brewers right-hander Joe Ross, Verdugo was penciled in to hit cleanup by Yankees manager Aaron Boone. Rizzo was bumped down to the six spot with Torres hitting seventh. Stanton is back in the lineup, batting fifth.
“I feel like he’s been really consistent at-bats here over the last couple of weeks,” Boone said of Verdugo, walking through the decision before first pitch. “So just stirring it up a little bit there in the middle and kind of essentially flipped him and Rizz for — at least for now.”
Through the first three series of the season, Verdugo was hitting .143 (5-for-35). He came up big a few times — notably his home run against the Diamondbacks in an extra-inning win and a clutch sacrifice fly against the Astros — but in an early-season sample, he wasn’t living up to his offensive reputation.
Again, he’s been cruising since then, now batting a respectable .256 on the season. Since April 7, Verdugo has raised his OPS from .454 to a season-high .783 entering play on Saturday.
Boone pointed out that Verdugo was trending in the right direction even before he started finding results. He’s reiterated multiple times of late that Verdugo can consistently barrel up the baseball once he really gets going.
Asked about Rizzo — who has had his moments, but in large part has been ineffective offensively so far — Boone said the aging first baseman is simply trying to get back on track.
“It’s been a little bit up and down for him,” Boone said, “a little bit of a slow month for him. But he’s had those in the past in his career. Just grinding through the early parts of trying to get that good feeling.”
The next lineup move the Yankees could make is taking Anthony Volpe out of the leadoff spot. Since he moved into the top spot in the order on April 10, the shortstop is hitting just .226 with a sub-.600 OPS and 15 strikeouts in 15 games (entering play on Saturday). Before that, he was batting .375 with a 1.044 OPS to begin the season
“Not yet,” Boone said. “No plans right now, but I didn’t necessarily have plans of sticking Dugie [Verdugo] in that four hole, so we’ll see how it all plays out. I feel like his at-bats have still been in line with where he’s been since even going back to the start of the spring.”
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Max Goodman may be reached at mgoodman@njadvancemedia.com.