The New York Yankees are in first place in the AL East at 7-5, but not everything is as it seems. New York has lost three of its last four. After a blistering start offensively, those vaunted torpedo bats have seen diminishing returns. As it so happens, a reshaped barrel does not ensure that a hitter can actually put the barrel on the ball.
It's hard not to think back to last season, when the Yankees' offense was basically Aaron Judge, Juan Soto and not much else. New York ran into extended cold spells; when Judge and Soto weren't raking, runs were exceedingly difficult to come by. Now Soto is gone, which means the Yankees are dependent on Judge to an uncomfortable degree.
That said, there have been a few positives. Anthony Volpe has four home runs, although his bat is quickly coming back down to earth. And, perhaps more meaningfully, Paul Goldschmidt looks something like the Paul Goldschmidt of old: He's swinging the bat well, slashing .383/.511/.942 with a home run and three RBI. With an expected batting average (.398) in the 100th percentile, the metrics are all rock-solid. Goldschmidt is operating with discipline and getting his barrel to the ball on a regular basis.
The catch? His success could come at the expense of New York's most promising young bat down the road.
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Paul Goldschmidt is raking for the Yankees, but his success puts Ben Rice in an awkward limbo
If we are going down the list of best Yankees hitters this season, it doesn't take long to get from Goldschmidt to Ben Rice. The 26-year-old is using last season's breakout as a launching pad. He's slashing .306/.419/.667 with three home runs to date, mostly as the DH. Boone even recently moved him into the leadoff spot.
Right now, this feels like the ideal setup. Goldy, even at 37 years old, is one of the best defensive first basemen in MLB. He gives New York stability at the position, while Rice gets to lean into his slugging full-throttle as the DH. But what happens when Giancarlo Stanton returns from his confounding elbow injury?
Staton won't be back for a while. He hasn't faced live pitching since October, so a lengthy rehab stint in the Minors is a given. But once Stanton does return, he is the Yankees' DH, no questions asked. Stanton cannot carry water as a defender, but he was downright essential to New York's World Series run a season ago. The 35-year-old, at full strength, remains one of the best power bats in baseball.
So, that will put Rice into positional limbo. He can still get backup reps behind Goldschmidt at first base, especially when the Yankees face a righty. He also has some experience at catcher; New York could consider swallowing the defensive loss relative to Wells or JC Escarra, just to get Rice more reps at the plate. Rice isn't going to start over Wells, though. Not consistently. And first base is Goldschmidt's position through the end of this season at least.
Unless the Yankees explore more creative positional adjustments, such as bumping Rice to the outfield, it feels like the slugging lefty will suffer a demotion eventually. It's not like the Yankees are hurting for outfield depth either: Cody Bellinger, Aaron Judge, and Jasson Dominguez are all high-value players, and Trent Grisham is a strong fourth option.
Rice has been too good to bench — he leads MLB in hard-hit rate at 72.0 percent — but the Yankees are approaching logjam status once Stanton returns. That is, unless another injury opens up a window into more ABs. I do not envy Aaron Boone and the hard decisions he will have to make.