A strong Spring Training has immediately ingratiated Cody Bellinger with Yankees‘ fans, and it seems to have left some sort of impression on the front office as they will be hitting him third behind Aaron Judge. This was first reported by Jon Heyman of the New York Post, with the Yankees expected to have Judge moving back up the lineup to the two-hole, where he hit for the team before they acquired Juan Soto in 2024.
Bellinger has been brilliant for the Bronx Bombers in his exhibition games, slashing .465/.511/.791 through 16 games, and while those numbers won’t matter unless they translate to the regular season, his swing has looked great. The former NL MVP had a down year in 2024 with the Cubs where he posted a 109 wRC+ and hit just 18 home runs across 130 games, but the Yankees believe that a new ballpark could result in some more pop.
He’ll provide a left-handed hitter behind Aaron Judge as well, which is something Aaron Boone has valued a lot in recent years when it comes to lineup construction.
Cody Bellinger Will Start As the Yankees’ Three-Hitter in 2025
The Yankees are putting Cody Bellinger in the three-hole, where the team hopes his power can translate to the Bronx and result in a strong season at the plate. Acquired from the Cubs, where he played at a home ballpark in Wrigley Field where run-scoring was depressed for left-handed hitters, the organization believes there’s more to unlock in 2025. So far they’ve seen a swing that is tailor-made for Yankee Stadium, as Bellinger has pulled over 50% of his batted balls while averaging over 92 MPH in terms of exit velocity.
While the Yankees aren’t expecting a player as good as Juan Soto with Cody Bellinger, they’re hoping he can be a strong contributor for an offense that will have some heavy lifting to do without Gerrit Cole. Their expected alignment against RHP now looks like Austin Wells, Aaron Judge, Cody Bellinger, and Paul Goldschmidt, with Jazz Chisholm as a logical fit for the fifth spot in that order.
Where Aaron Boone goes from there is a mystery, but the team would like to add another right-handed bat to help them against LHP.
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Bellinger does present a partial solution to those left-handed woes, as he boasts a 109 wRC+ in his career against southpaws including a 106 wRC+ this past season. He only walked two times in 167 matchups against LHP, but the Yankees would love to have a left-handed hitter who can hold his own and even post above-average offensive numbers in those matchups, especially because they lost Giancarlo Stanton for an indefinite period.
If the Yankees can find a way to replenish the offensive value lost by Stanton through someone like Ben Rice and a right-handed bat that can platoon with him, they might be able to score runs in 2025. They’ll also need pitchers on their roster to step up and immediately provide value such as Will Warren and Carlos Carrasco, who will take the places of Gerrit Cole and Clarke Schmidt.
Cody Bellinger’s strong camp likely didn’t change the team’s desire to hit him behind one of their right-handed hitters at either the third or fifth spot, but there’s confidence internally that he could have a good year and provide some much-needed value at the plate.