New York Yankees talk ‘unreal’ offense ahead of July 23 Opening Day

New York Yankees' Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton.

The New York Yankees finished last season first in Major League Baseball in runs (943), second in home runs (306), third in slugging (.490), and fourth in batting average (.267).

The bulk of their 2019 positional depth chart remains in place: Gary Sanchez, Luke Voit, DJ LeMahieu, Gio Urshela, Gleyber Torres, Brett Gardner, Aaron Hicks, Aaron Judge, and Giancarlo Stanton, among others.

Health has been the recurring impediment for this bunch, as most of the aforementioned players missed extensive time last season due to injury.

Stanton feels the Yankees lineup is “unmatched” if they can stay on the field (quotes per George A. King III of the New York Post).

“It’s unreal, unmatched in the league if we could all stay out there,’’ Stanton said before the Yankees final of three spring training 2.0 exhibition games ahead of Thursday night’s Opening Day gig against the Nationals and Max Scherzer in Washington. “We definitely know what we are capable of. It’s just a matter of putting it out there.’’

Yankees manager Aaron Boone feels “the bar is very high” on a healthy version of his ballclub.

“I think you can add a couple of more names to that list. I feel like if we are whole and even into some of our depth, the bar is very high for what we think we can do offensively and it should be,’’ Boone said Monday night. “Hopefully we can meet those expectations because I know our guys expect a lot of themselves. I am looking forward to them going out and not only continue to be who they are but hopefully continue to make strides as players.’’

Boone wants his team to be ready to “get the stretch drive.”

“In my head sometimes I say, ‘It would be great if this guy could play X amount of games,’ but when I really get down to it I really don’t look at it like that,’’ Boone said. “I look at it in chunks. We have Opening Day, an off day and then 16 in a row. I think therein lies how do you build those guys up? Obviously with the deeper roster [30] at that standpoint what is the best way to get them a day off but continue to build their endurance so that when you get to 20, 30, 40 games into the season they are hopefully healthy because of the way we have done it but also ready to really get the stretch drive.’’

The Yankees begin the 2020 season on Thursday against the World Series-champion Washington Nationals, the first of a three-game set.

Mentioned in this article:

More about: