New York Yankees: Is Aaron Boone concerned over lack of lefty hitter in batting order?

Aug 3, 2019; Bronx, NY, USA; New York Yankees center fielder Aaron Hicks (31) singles against the Boston Red Sox during the first inning of game two of a doubleheader at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Andy Marlin-USA TODAY Sports

The Yankees have more positives than negatives to worry about in 2020. The departure of Dellin Betances poses a threat to the efficiency of the bullpen, but they did manage to have a fantastic 2019 season in his absence, which should alleviate any concern on that front.

The outfield is all but set in stone, with Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge returning with a full bill of health. Factor in Aaron Hicks’ injury and there could be some tumultuous times in center field unless Brett Gardner can replicate his productivity in the campaign ahead. Gardner posted career highs in both home runs (28) and RBIs (74). However, the fixing of the juiced baseballs from last season might see his slugging percentage take a dip back to normal levels. His influence is more significant in the leadership department and injury supplementation.

The Yankees could be facing one final challenge:

While a majority of the positional groupings have excellent depth and starting quality players, there’s one remaining concern that manager Aaron Boone has going into spring training — that’s the overwhelming amount of right-handed hitters in the batting order.

MLB’s Bryan Hoch responded to a question regarding the lack of lefty bats in the lineup, stating:

With Gregoriusâ€™ departure, the Yankeesâ€™ Opening Day lineup projects to be extremely right-handed beyond Gardner and perhapsÂ Mike Tauchman. I asked Aaron Boone about that recently, and he seemed to indicate that they believe they will score plenty of runs even without perfect balance:

Boone stated:

â€œYou always want to have balance, but you want to be as good a team as you can be, so you’re always trying to kind of improve where you can. Nothing turns out perfect. You’re not always going to have the perfect roster, but we feel like whichever way we go — and especially with Aaron Hicks out to start the first couple of months — there is certainly a chance that we could be very right-handed. But we also know there is a really good chance that we will be a really good offense.â€

A rather vague answer from the Yankees’ shipmaster, but the reality is, it’s impossible to tell whether the team will falter because of this minor factor or blossom into an offensive juggernaut. With Mike Tauchman, Brett Gardner, Mike Ford, Aaron Hicks, and Tyler Wade being the capable lefty bats on the team, the lineup could have a challenging time against right-handed pitchers, but I don’t imagine it will be consistent. The lefty bats on the team are majority reserve players, which is the problematic factor.