David Lennon: Aaron Judge, leadoff hitter? Why the Yankees should consider the idea
Aaron Judge #99 of the New York Yankees follows through on his first inning two run home run against the Kansas City Royals at Yankee Stadium on Sunday, Apr. 19, 2026. Credit: Jim McIsaac
The Yankees unveiled a new leadoff hitter Sunday as Ben Rice drew the assignment for the series finale against the Royals.
He’s the fourth Yankee to be put in that spot through the first 22 games and maybe the one who has made the most sense, considering that Rice’s .468 on-base percentage before Sunday was second in the majors, fueled by a 20.3% walk rate that ranked fifth overall.
Those are two excellent qualifications, and his .339 batting average didn’t hurt, either. But if you ask us whom the Yankees should consider in that revolving-door role, the choice is obvious: Aaron Judge.
The Yankees’ Rice-Judge pairing worked to perfection in Sunday’s 7-0 demolition of the Royals, which completed a three-game sweep at the Stadium. Rice worked a six-pitch walk from lefthander Cole Ragans in the opening at-bat and Judge followed with a 425-foot blast to center for his ninth homer (Rice added a solo shot in the second).
Judge has hit 90 first-inning homers in his career, including five this season, giving him the third-most in franchise history behind Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle. The Yankees’ captain is the definition of instant offense, and with Rice now red-hot, having homered in four straight games, manager Aaron Boone should dip his toe in those Judge leadoff waters again, as he did during the 2022 season.
As reliable as Rice can be atop the order — he was batting .353 (6-for-17) with an .882 slugging percentage against lefty pitching after his second-inning homer — there’s no better protection for Judge, too.
On Sunday, the two became only the third Yankees tandem to each have at least eight homers through the first 22 games, joining the 1956 duo of Mantle (11) and Yogi Berra (10) along with the 2022 combo of Anthony Rizzo (nine) and Judge (eight).
“He’s always going to be hitting homers,” Rice said. “So to be able to hit some along with him is cool for me.”
Afterward, Judge was asked where he feels most comfortable in the lineup.
“Anywhere,” he said, “Anywhere in that first one through nine. It really doesn’t matter.”
The Yankees have grown accustomed to Judge in the two-hole, and today’s conventional baseball wisdom suggests that’s where the team’s most dangerous bat belongs — just as it previously used to be the cleanup spot and then at No. 3.
I’m sure there are multiple gigabytes of analytical data that defend keeping Judge off the top rung, but it’s not as if he’s been automatically penciled in at No. 2, either. He spent the entire 2024 season batting third behind Juan Soto in that legendary tag team and has appeared there sporadically since.
The Judge leadoff experiment pretty much came to an end in Game 3 of the 2022 Division Series win over the Guardians, but it was a very successful run.
Judge has better numbers in the leadoff spot than anywhere else in the lineup, hitting .352 (45-for-128) with 13 homers, 25 RBIs, a .466 on-base percentage and a 1.177 OPS. He also set the American League single-season record with 62 homers in 2022 and earned the first of his three MVP awards.
That’s the historical evidence. As for how Judge fits right now, let’s take a look at his credentials, as well as the competition on the current Yankees roster.
Judge isn’t really off to one of his MVP-caliber starts; he has a .232/.330/.598 slash line after Sunday’s rain-delayed matinee at the Stadium. But those stats won’t stay down for long, and his nine homers are second in the majors behind the Astros’ Yordan Alvarez (10).
One helpful tool in Judge’s favor: He was seeing 4.52 pitches per at-bat, tied with the Mariners’ Cal Raleigh — last year’s MVP runner-up — for the fourth-most in baseball.
And a fairly obvious fact: shouldn’t it be imperative to make sure that your most lethal hitter gets to the plate as much as possible?
Look at the Dodgers. They moved Shohei Ohtani to the leadoff spot in June 2024 out of necessity the day after the previous tenant, Mookie Betts, suffered a fractured hand. Ohtani had been the club’s No. 2 hitter, like Judge, but all he’s done since the switch is win back-to-back MVPs and lead the Dodgers to consecutive World Series titles.
We are talking about the Dodgers, the sport’s preeminent franchise, along with the irrepressible Ohtani, so there’s a good chance all that stuff still would have happened if he had stayed at No. 2. But the Dodgers continue to stick with that strategy. Why try to fix something that isn’t broken?
In Judge’s case, the Yankees’ offense could use a boost, particularly atop the order. Entering Sunday, their leadoff hitters were batting a combined .160, third-worst in MLB, with a .636 OPS that ranked 21st overall.
Much of that had to do with the struggling Trent Grisham driving the bus, with a team-high 15 starts at leadoff, as Boone opened this season by defaulting to the same plan that was sketchy last season (Grisham hit .202 with a .325 OBP in 89 games in that spot).
By now, the Yankees must be coming to the realization that Grisham belongs further down the order. They can do better, as Rice and Judge teamed up to make a devastating impact in Sunday’s rout. Boone should think about flipping them, however, especially with Rice on his current roll (.338 batting average, 1.276 OPS).
“He’s the leader,” Jose Caballero said of Judge. “And he’s always in front.”
What better place to do that from than atop the order?
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
