Projecting Yankees lineup with Luke Voit starting season on IL

With Luke Voit on the IL, here’s how the New York Yankees lineup is slated to look starting the season.

Luke Voit was a revelation for the New York Yankees during last year’s shortened campaign, leading the majors with 22 home runs. But he was bothered by a lingering knee injury this spring, and on Saturday manager Aaron Boone said he’ll undergo surgery to repair a partially torn meniscus.

Voit will be out of baseball activities for three weeks, and Boone essentially said the first baseman will be back in May.

Voit’s injury opened the door for Jay Bruce to start the season on the Yankees’ major league roster. The veteran left-handed slugger has primarily been an outfielder by trade, but he has started to play some first base in recent years. That’s where he’ll start the season as a regular in the lineup.

"“It was part of the equation,” Boone said. “So Jay is with us. I expect him to play a lot and a lot of first base for us. Excited to see what he can do for us.”“I was waiting on the Yankees to let me know,” said Bruce, who was informed about the decision early Saturday morning. “Clearly this is where I wanted to be. This is why I signed here. I’m extremely excited.”"

Spring training stats being what they are, Bruce is hitting .194 with two home runs in 31 at-bats as things wind down.

Projecting the Yankees lineup without Luke Voit

The Yankees will start the 2021 season against the Toronto Blue Jays on Thursday. Here’s how the lineup is slated to look:

1-D.J. LeMahieu-2B
2-Aaron Judge-RF
3-Jay Bruce-1B
4-Giancarlo Stanton-DH
5-Gleyber Torres-SS
6-Gio Urshela-3B
7-Clint Frazier-LF
8-Gary Sanchez-C
9-Aaron Hicks-CF

Miguel Andujar, Mike Tauchman and Brett Gardner are in line to see plenty of at-bats too, as Boone works with the pieces he has. Voit’s absence will hurt, but the Yankees can survive it.