Aaron Boone has often been a target for New York Yankees fans throughout his time as the team’s manager. While some of the criticism he’s received has been deserved, much of it has stemmed from fans needing someone to blame when the team falls short. Boone’s lineup choices have frequently been questioned, and his decisions to start this season have been unconventional to say the least. However, the results have made it hard to ignore the success he’s brought.
The Yankees kicked off the season with a pair of home runs in a win over the Milwaukee Brewers on Opening Day, and their performance only got better in the second game of the year. With the team playing so well, it’s likely that Boone’s critics will have to hold their fire—for now.
One of Boone’s most talked-about lineup choices was having Austin Wells, the catcher with limited base-running ability, lead off. Fans were baffled as to why Wells was chosen ahead of Aaron Judge, but he quickly shut down the doubters by hitting a home run on the third pitch he saw in the Yankees’ first at-bat of the season.
There was also skepticism about Anthony Volpe, who had a .661 OPS over two full seasons, batting ahead of Ben Rice, a DH who had a standout spring training. Volpe made Boone look good by hitting a home run in his first at-bat. Wells and Volpe played key roles in the Yankees’ 4-2 Opening Day victory, but the best was yet to come.
In their second game, Boone made a significant number of changes to the lineup, which raised some eyebrows. While it made sense given the Yankees were facing left-hander Nestor Cortes Jr., the drastic changes after a win seemed excessive to some. In the end, Boone made all the right calls.
- Aaron Boone
For the first time in his 15-year career, Paul Goldschmidt led off a game, and he did so in dramatic fashion, launching the first pitch he saw over the fence. In fact, the first three pitches Cortes threw resulted in home runs. The Yankees hit a fourth homer in the first inning and ended up hitting nine total (setting a franchise record) while scoring 20 runs.
How many Yankees fans expected Goldschmidt to succeed in a role he had never played in 15 years? How many questioned having Aaron Judge hit third without a hitter like Juan Soto in front of him? Or starting Trent Grisham in center field? All three of Boone’s decisions paid off in a massive way, leading to one of the most dominant offensive performances in Yankees history.
While Boone will undoubtedly make mistakes moving forward, Yankees fans can’t deny that his lineup decisions have been nearly flawless so far.
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