The New York Yankees led (in every sense) by their captain, Aaron Judge were quick off the mark in 2025. By the end of March, they were 3-0 and a game in front of the rest of their division. By the end of April, they were 18-13 and had increased their lead to one-and-a-half games.

Obviously, there had been many changes since their disappointing perfomance in the 2024 World Series.

Some of these had been by choice – some because they had been outbid on free agents they would have liked to re-sign.

The most obvious of these was outfielder, Juan Soto who had followed the money and wound across the city wearing the colours of the New York Mets.

Who else? Anthony Rizzo became a free agent as did Lou Trivino, Tim Mayza and Jon Berti.

Carlos Narvaez (catcher, who had played in only 6 games) was traded for minor league pitcher, Elmer Rodriguez-Cruz. Closer Devin Williams arrived in exchange for Nestor Cortes and 2b Caleb Durbin from the Milwaukee Brewers,

The Yankees traded upcoming pitcher Cody Poteet for OF Cody Bellinger. Bellinger coming in from the Chicago Cubs would fill the gap left by Soto.

Most of the money freed up by the loss of Soto went on Fried, left-handed pitcher Max Fried that is. Fried had been with the Atlanta Braves prior to becoming a free agent.

Having already allowed Carlos Narvaez to depart to Boston, they now, surprisingly, let Jose Trevino, who had been second choice catcher last season, also leave to Cincinnati in exchange for another catcher Alex Jackson and right-handed reliever, Fernando Cruz.

The Yankees brought Jonathan Loaisiga back in as a free agent, despite the fact the he has had longterm inury problems and wouldn’t be ready for April.

They surprisingly re-signed Trent Grisham, but showed absolutely no interest in the disruptive Alex Verdugo despite choosing him over both Grisham and Dominguez in the World Series.

They closed the gap left by Rizzo by signing Paul Goldschmidt to a one year contract. He had spent the previous six years with the St Louis Cardinals and was now 37. He had suffered a major slump during the end of his time in St Louis. They gave themselves another middle infield option by re-signing Andrew Velazquez. They settled on a minor league contract and invited him to Spring Training as a non-roster player.

In January, when Allan Winans was placed on waivers by the Atlanta Braves, the Yankees were the team to claim him. Free agent, Tim Hill returned to the Yankees and was another step in strengthening their bullpen. Tyler Matzek and Ryan Yarbrough were two more brought in from free agency, and they later added Adam Ottavino.

Let’s see who among the batters did well. who didn’t and who just proved to be insurance money – first in March…:

Name/Pos	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	K	SB	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
Aaron Judge rf	3	11	8	6	2	0	4	11	3	2	0	.545	.643	1.818	2.461
Oswald Peraza if	2	2	1	1	0	0	1	2	0	0	0	.500	.500	2.000	2.500
Ben Rice DH, 1B, C	3	6	3	3	0	0	1	1	1	1	0	.500	.571	1.000	1.571
Jazz Chisholm Jr. 2B	3	12	5	5	0	0	3	6	1	4	0	.417	.500	1.167	1.667
Paul Goldschmidt 1b, dh	3	12	5	5	1	0	1	2	1	3	0	.417	.500	.750	1.250
Cody Bellinger lf	3	10	3	4	0	0	1	6	1	1	0	.400	.357	.700	1.057
Trent Grisham of	3	5	3	2	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	.400	.571	.400	.971
Oswaldo Cabrera if	3	8	2	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.375	.375	.375	.750
Austin Wells c	3	10	2	2	0	0	2	3	2	2	0	.200	.333	.800	1.133
Anthony Volpe ss	3	12	3	2	0	0	2	4	2	3	0	.167	.286	.667	.953
Jasson Dominguez of	3	8	1	1	0	0	0	0	3	2	0	.125	.364	.125	.489
J.C. Escarra c	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	.000	.000	.000	.000
Pablo Reyes if	2	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	.000	.200	.000	.200
Name/Pos	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	K	SB	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS

and then in April…

Name/Pos	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	K	SB	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
Aaron Judge of dh	28	106	21	44	5	1	6	21	18	26	3	.415	.508	.651	1.159
Paul Goldschmidt 1b dh	28	106	12	37	7	0	1	11	8	22	1	.349	.391	.443	.834
Trent Grisham of	22	67	12	19	1	0	8	15	7	16	0	.284	.351	.657	1.008
Oswaldo Cabrera if	22	71	11	20	2	0	1	8	7	19	0	.282	.363	.352	.715
Pablo Reyes 2b	9	12	2	3	0	0	1	0	1	5	1	.250	.308	.250	.558
Ben Rice 1b dh c	24	88	19	22	4	1	7	12	12	27	2	.250	.359	.557	.916
Anthony Volpe ss	28	102	13	25	10	0	3	15	12	32	3	.245	.333	.431	.764
Jasson Dominguez of	23	84	13	20	7	0	2	12	8	32	3	.238	.312	.393	.705
Austin Wells c	24	84	7	18	6	1	3	14	5	22	0	.214	.258	.417	.675
J.C. Escarra c	9	24	2	5	2	0	1	3	3	5	0	.208	.321	.417	.738
Oswald Peraza if	12	32	6	6	2	0	0	3	2	10	0	.188	.235	.250	.485
Cody Bellinger of	25	88	11	16	4	1	2	10	11	24	3	.182	.270	.318	.588
Jazz Chisholm Jr 2b	27	93	12	14	3	0	4	11	14	35	6	.151	.279	.312	.591
Tyler Matzek p	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000
Name/Pos	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	K	SB	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS

Catchers

With the departure of Jose Trevino (now first choice at Cincinnati), and Carlos Narvaez (now first choice at Boston), Alex Jackson who has spent major league time with Atlanta, Milwaukee and Miami, seemed the obvious choice to be second choice behind Austin Wells. However, somewhat surprisingly, it was J.C. Escarra who made the opening day roster. Escarra had spent time as an Uber driver and supply teacher rather than in the majpr leagues. Last year, he spent time with the Somerset Patriots (AA) and the Scranton / Wilkes-Barre Railriders (AAA). I guess it was his natual exuberance that carried the day.

Both players are good defensively, and Wells (6 doubles, 1 triple, 5 homers), in particular, has considerable extra base hit power. However, with Escarra on .208 in April, and Wells on .214, it would seem that the Yankees might be on the look-out for someone who can hit for average before the trading deadline.

Ben Rice was a possible third option at catcher, having filled that role in the minors but more on him in a little while.

Infielders

Everybody expected that Paul Goldschmidt might be an upgrade on Anthony Rizo, but really nobody expected what has happened. Goldschmidt doesn’t seem to hit for the fences anymore (just 2 home runs in the month plus), but in April he hit .349 and so far this season, he has eight doubles. It means that the 37-year old has been a tremendous signing for the Yankees.

At second base, Jazz Chisholm Jr. is struggling. He started well in those three games that fell in March, hitting .417, but as April dawned and moved along he slumped deeper and deeper. His batting was nowhere and he was in a funk with opponents and with umpires. in April, he batted .191 in 93 at bats. The only light in the gloom was 7 extra base hits and a team leading 6 stolen bases.

At shortstop, Anthony Volpe continues to develop. In April, he led the team in the doubles column with 10 (13 extre base hits in total). His defensive work is more than adequate, and his .245 batting average will do.

With DJ LeMahieu taking yet another stinit on the injured list, Oswaldo Cabrera had to carry the every day work at third base – and he did very nicely, thank you. Hitting .282 in April, he added in a little extra spice with three extra base hits, and lots of energy, and that effervescent smile.

Coming off the bench for the Yankees were Oswald Peraza and Pablo Reyes. Peraza (.188) gives the Yankees more options, Reyes (.250) mostly provides cover at third base, but it is hard to make a convincing argument that either of them are up to the task. Indeed, showing Peraza’s weaknesses to such an alarming extent is just lowering his trade market value.

Outfielders

Coming into the season, it seemed obvious that the Yankees’ outfield would be Cody Bellinger – Jasson Dominguez – Aaron Judge with the re-signed Trent Grisham providing some late innings defensive work. It was hard to think based on his batting average from last season that Grisham was going to provide anything more than that.

Grisham, however, had other plans – hitting .284 with 8 home runs in April meaning that they could share the three positions amongst these four players allowing everybody to share some of the weight of the designated hitter role. It has become clear that giving Grisham to bench was what cooled his performance in 2024.

Indeed, it is Bellinger who is struggling. In April, he hit .182, although the 7 extra base hits makes it look better. Dominguez is still finding his feet. He looks better in the field, but needs to improve on his .238 batting average (9 extra base hits).

In this section, we have saved the best for last. Aaron Judge. In March, he hit .545 with 6 extra base hits… but obviously, he had to slow down. And he did… a little. April was .415 with 12 extra base hits. That gives him 10 home runs on the season so far. It is clear he has adjusted his batting stance a little, but this is phenomonal. Each season, we keep expecting him to slow down, but then he speeds up (mtaphorically speaking). Phenomonal. Oh, I said that already didn’t I.

Designated Hitter

With Giancarlo Stanton showing no signs of being injury free, Ben Rice has risen to the task of being the most days DH. He can give Goldschmidt a day out of the field. He allows the outfield to be rotated without sitting Grisham (seemingly last year’s problem) and he give the Yankees a competent third catcher.

His .250 with 12 extra base hits in April is just fine. He will slow down, but then Stanton will return and that’s a nice problem to have.