It's the question that almost every manager who has faced the New York Yankees this season has faced: How do you handle a lineup with Juan Soto and Aaron Judge hitting back-to-back?
There's no easy answer, especially since Judge flipped the switch on a slow start three days into May and blew a blowtorch out of opposing pitchers. Minnesota Twins manager Rocco Baldelli smiled when asked about it earlier this month.
“I don't have anything special here,” Baldelli said. “There's no ideal way to attack guys who are the best in the game at what they do.”
Rarely are the two best hitters in baseball on the same team. But the numbers illustrate that Judge and Soto are not only the best hitters in the game, but one of the greatest duos in history, already drawing comparisons to legendary Yankee combos of the past, from Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig to Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris. They complement each other almost perfectly, a combination of lefties and righties that achieves historic numbers by patiently tiring pitchers with remarkable discipline and loudly punishing errors.
Soto, 25, is hitting .320 with 17 home runs and a 1.025 OPS in his first season in New York. Judge, the 32-year-old captain, is hitting .302 with a 1.118 OPS and an MLB-best 25 home runs.
Outfielders rank first and second in the majors in OPS, OBP, wRC+ and wOBA. Soto's 4.3 fWAR is fourth. Judge's 5.0 fWAR is first. Judge is on pace to hit 57 home runs two years after breaking an American League record of 62. Soto is on pace to strike gold in free agency this winter ahead of his age-26 season.
They have been the driving force behind the best record in the majors and a pace of 112 victories.
“Those two guys benefit from a strong and balanced cast, but [also] the closeness that has existed within the team … and how they communicate with each other and how they talk with each other,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “Certainly, Aaron and Juan are the best hitters in the game. but different. [One’s] right-handed, one is left-handed. There are different matchups that favor different types, but having another type that they relate to each other, unlike many of us, can do that. “I've seen that, I think, it's beneficial.”
It's what the organization envisioned when general manager Brian Cashman decided to send five players to the San Diego Padres for Soto and outfielder Trent Grisham in December, knowing that Soto's tenure with the Yankees could end after one season. They considered it worth the price to partner Soto with Judge to fight for the championship.
“This,” Boone said, “is what I've imagined and fantasized about since the day it happened.”
The fantasy took longer than expected to formulate. While Soto got off to a bright start, Judge languished for the first five weeks of the season as he transitioned to playing center field every day. Judge emerged from a May 2 loss to the Baltimore Orioles with a .197/.331/.393 line. His struggles were analyzed from all angles. Were his mechanics off? Was he healthy? Was it just one step slower?
But Judge has devastated pitchers since then. He is hitting .413 with a .528 on-base percentage, 19 home runs and 15 doubles in his last 36 games. He has a 1.000 slugging percentage with almost as many walks (31) as strikeouts (33) over the stretch. His 1.528 OPS in that span is more than 400 points better than anyone else in the majors. His 310 wRC+ is 109 points better than anyone else's. His 4.5 fWAR is 1.9 better than anyone else.
Meanwhile, Soto's only slump of the season lasted the eight games in which he went 4-for-31 from May 9-16. The stretch was long enough for the right fielder to take extra batting practice on the field with the coaches several times. hours before facing the Chicago White Sox on May 17. Soto then went 4-for-4 with two home runs in a win.
“I was definitely working on my swing,” Soto said. “I'm trying to find that feeling again where I was hitting the ball the first month and get that feeling back and get that confidence back.”
As a result, the Yankees are 27-7 with Soto and Judge together in the lineup since May 3.
“I'd say it's the best 2-3 in all of baseball, and I think they've proven that to be the case, day in and day out,” Yankees catcher Austin Wells said. “When they're in the lineup, we have a great chance to beat any team in baseball.”
No opponent knows this better than the Twins. The Yankees already swept the season series against Minnesota, going 6-0 with a plus-20 run differential in two series over the last month. Judge went 10-for-20 with seven walks, six doubles, a home run and a 1.680 OPS in the six wins.
“You have to pitch to them,” Baldelli said on June 5. “You don't really want to put one on base to face the other. That's not a good plan, at least in my opinion.”
Later that day, Soto and Judge combined to go 2-for-6 with three walks, five RBIs and three runs as the Yankees continued their dominance over Minnesota with a 9-5 victory.
However, the club received a scare the next night, when Soto came out of a rain-delayed game with discomfort in his left forearm. The tests were scheduled for the next day. Suddenly, the Yankees' World Series hopes were at stake, but Soto and the Yankees received the best news possible: There was no structural damage, just inflammation. Soto's status was labeled day-to-day, but he did not play in the weekend matchup against the Los Angeles Dodgers after starting the Yankees' first 64 games.
Soto's absence was palpable in two losses to the Dodgers to begin the main series, to the point that the crowd chanted for Soto while Grisham, his replacement in the lineup, batted in Sunday's finale. Grisham reversed his feelings with a go-ahead three-run homer, but the fans' behavior upset Judge, who defended Grisham, saying, “I wasn't too happy about it,” while noting Soto's unrivaled presence. .
“He's been leading this team all year,” Judge said of Soto. “And any time you play good teams like this and the fans pay to see us do our thing, they want to see the best there is.”
Four days later, Soto and Judge returned to the lineup together in Kansas City, filling in at the No. 2 and No. 3 spots in a 10-1 victory over the Royals. It was far from the first time (and probably won't be the last) that Soto and Judge wreaked havoc on an opponent. The Yankees are counting on them to do so until the end of October.
“You immediately get the feeling that this is a good thing,” Boone said. “Certainly, that has happened so far.”
