With the Yankees fresh off a day of rest and several prominent hitters in a funk, Aaron Boone made several changes to his lineup for Friday’s series-opener against the Blue Jays.
The red-hot Trent Grisham returned to the team and the leadoff spot following paternity leave, while the raking Ben Rice occupied the three-hole for the first time this season. Meanwhile, four flailing Bombers found themselves demoted in the order.
Boone had Cody Bellinger hitting fifth; he’s mostly hit second or third this season. Jazz Chisholm Jr. was bumped to sixth; he’s mainly hit fourth or fifth. Anthony Volpe followed at seventh; he’s primarily hit fifth or sixth. Finally, Austin Wells slotted into the eighth spot for the first time this season; he’s moved all over the lineup but has mostly hit sixth and seventh.
“Keep playing them,” Boone said when asked how to get some of these guys going. “It’s baseball. Guys are going to be hot. Guys are going to be cold. Some of the guys that are off to slower starts are all guys that are very capable and will get it going.”
Lately, Volpe’s scuffles have been the most noticeable.
The 23-year-old, in his third MLB season, entered Friday’s game hitting .198/.295/.385 with a 98 wRC+. Most of Volpe’s contributions came over his first nine games, a stretch that saw him total four homers and 12 RBI. Since April 7, however, Volpe is hitting .130/.250/.167 with zero homers, three RBI, 22 strikeouts and a 30 wRC+ over 64 plate appearances.
Boone noted that fastballs up in the zone have been a particular problem for Volpe lately; the Rays started pumping heaters by him last week in Tampa. The Guardians followed suit in Cleveland.
Boone reasoned that Volpe knows pitchers are currently “climbing” the zone and that he may be trying to “meet their intensity.”
“Sometimes there’s some tension in that, and you actually get a little slower where you’re trying to meet that,” Boone continued. “It’s like, just be athletic and quick and fast and let the ball do the work. So maybe a little muscley there through some of his swings where he’s had some swing and miss there in a couple of those games.”
Boone also pointed out that Volpe is walking at a would-be career-high 11.4% clip and hitting the ball harder than ever with a 90.3 average exit velocity. However, strikeout are still a huge problem, and his on-base percentage remained under .300, tracking with career norms.
James Rowson, the Yankees’ hitting coach, said he’s not worried about Volpe. He cited the young shortstop’s work ethic, as well as a “dynamic,” hard-hitting postseason that still had the Yankees oohing and awing throughout the winter and spring training.
“He’s that player,” Rowson told the Daily News. “I have the utmost confidence in this player.”
The Yankees have maintained their steadfast belief that Volpe, a Gold Glove defender, has a higher offensive ceiling. However, his flash of potential out of the gate, followed by a longer slump, this season follows a career pattern of short-lived highs and longer woes for Volpe.
With middle ground out of reach throughout his career thus far, Volpe entered Friday’s game five plate appearances shy of 1,400 for his career. Those plate appearances produced a .225/.289/.374 slash line and an 85 wRC+.
“We’re gonna get to the up and stay up,” Rowson said of the peaks and valleys. “He’s relentless in his approach. He’s relentless in his confidence. I tell him he’s built different. You have to be built different to deal with the ups and the downs in this game.
“He’s gonna come out of the end of this and be a really, really good player in this league.”
Rowson added that he feels Volpe has “proven that he can hit at this level.”
“What we’re looking for and what everyone wants to see is can you do it day in, day out?” the coach continued. “And that’s part of the process, learning to do that. I believe he’s growing in that area.”
Below, Rowson shared his thoughts on some of the Yankees’ other struggling hitters.
ON BELLINGER
Bellinger’s Yankees career hasn’t gotten off to a good start. In addition to some back aches and a case of food poisoning, the former MVP took a .177/.236/.291 slash line, just two home runs, 12 RBI and a 49 wRC+ into Friday’s contest.
Those are numbers no one wants to see, but especially a middle-of-the-order hitter.
Conventional wisdom pegged Bellinger as a perfect fit for Yankee Stadium, where the short right field porch is a left-handed swinger’s best friend. However, Bellinger’s 36.1 Pull% would be the lowest of his career by a wide margin.
Asked if he’d like Bellinger to focus on pulling the ball more, Rowson replied, “What we talk about more is just squaring the ball up more consistently. Pulling the ball and where you hit it, some of that goes into where you’re being pitched and where you’re thrown. So you want to look at that and find out is he getting balls that he normally does maybe pull, or does he just need to work on and get his mindset on really kind of squaring up balls?”
Rowson added it’s too early in the season to determine if pitchers are attacking Bellinger differently.
While Bellinger’s numbers are not good, Rowson insisted he’s been contributing. One example of that: Bellinger led the Yankees in sac flies as of Friday morning.
“There’s a lot of things that aren’t seen,” Rowson said. “I think there’s a lot of at-bats where he draws a walk, a lot of at-bats where he puts a ball in play and we score a run, or he hits a flyball and gets a sac and a guy comes in.
“I feel like Cody is heading in the right direction because I feel like his at-bats are productive.”
ON CHISHOLM
Rowson said he’s seen some “ups and downs” from Chisholm, who entered Friday with seven homers and 15 RBI but also a .165/.280/.418 slash line and 103 wRC+. Like Volpe, Chisholm has been particularly bad since April 7, hitting .113/.262/.283 with a 64 wRC+.
Chisholm has said that he’s been lucky, an assessment that Rowson agreed with.
“You see some at-bats where he can really hit a ball hard and get nothing to show for it,” said Rowson, who also coached Chisholm in Miami. “And then all of a sudden, you do run into a couple of good pitchers and you make a few outs and it snowballs.”
Some metrics support the misfortune theory. Chisholm had a .345 xwOBA, which measures the quality of one’s contact. He also had what would be the highest Barrel% (16.9) and lowest Chase% (25.6) of his career, though he’s still certainly a free swinger.
Rowson said that he’s talked to Chisholm about his feel at the plate; the second baseman believes he’s in a good spot and is just missing some pitches.
“I expect him to kind of come back and get to normal here pretty soon,” Rowson said.
ON WELLS
After a successful stretch as the Yankees’ cleanup hitter last season and sweltering spring, Wells has quietly lacked at the plate so far this season, though not as much as the others mentioned here.
As of Friday morning, he was slashing .181/.256/.417 with four homers, 11 RBI and a 90 wRC+ over 22 games.
With the lefty-swinging Wells playing in nearly all of the Yankees’ games thus far, Rowson noted that the second-year catcher is facing southpaws at a higher rate than he did last season, when the right-handed Jose Trevino also shared receiving responsibilities. Wells had already taken 33 plate appearances against lefties this season.
He totaled 77 in 2024.
“He’s had a lot of tough at-bats left-on-left,” Rowson said, though Wells hasn’t been much better against righties. “There’s been a lot there. So I think you take that in, and I’ll take him every time against anybody they throw out there. But at times, you’re dealing with what you’re dealing with as a hitter, and you gotta go out there and do it.
“But in totality, I think Wellsy is doing fine.”
