The New York Yankees are looking to return to the playoffs in 2024. Although New York still could make more moves before the 2024 season gets underway, the Yankees are preparing for Aaron Judge and newly-acquired Juan Soto to lead the lineup. Speaking of the lineup, fans are surely wondering where Judge and Soto will hit in the 2024 batting order. Aaron Boone gave the answer during a recent appearance on Foul Territory.

“I think about it all the time,” Boone responded when asked if he's thought about the 2024 lineup yet. “Right now, probably Juan in the two-hole and Judgie third. But, we will just see.”

Boone also addressed the leadoff spot in the lineup. Judge has previously led off for New York, but Boone is now set to have him bat third. And with Soto expected to hit second, Boone mentioned DJ LeMahieu, Alex Verdugo, and Gleyber Torres as potential leadoff options.

“We will see how the leadoff spot shakes out. I really feel excited about the way DJ finished the season last year… I'm hopeful that he gets back to being the player he was in the second half (of 2023) where he's getting on base a ton and can solve that leadoff spot for us,” Boone said. “But obviously bringing Verdugo over is a huge deal. He can hit in that spot. You could move Gleyber up there if you wanted to. So I do feel like we have a lot of really good options.”

Yankees' lineup can bounce back in 2024

Adding Soto changes the entire dynamic of the lineup. The Verdugo acquisition will also add an element of offensive versatility to the batting order as well.

New York's lineup has been fairly right-handed heavy in recent seasons with hitters like Judge, LeMahieu, Giancarlo Stanton, and Gleyber Torres anchoring the batting order. Soto and Verdugo, who both hit left-handed, will allow Boone to mix-and-match.

If LeMahieu bats first, and some combination of Anthony Rizzo (left-handed as well) and Stanton bat fourth and fifth, the Yankees may not have any repeats of batters with the same handedness through the first five hitters in the lineup. That trend would continue if Verdugo and Torres follow Rizzo and Stanton in the batting order.

Of course, mixing and matching hitters isn't the primary recipe for success. You still want to strategize by players' strengths. But LeMahieu is capable of getting on base at a respectable rate, which would make him a reliable leadoff hitter.

Meanwhile, Soto always seems to record an OBP of above .400. In fact, he has a career .421 OBP. Judge is the perfect No. 3 hitter while Stanton and Rizzo will provide pop in the middle of the order.

This Yankees team has the potential to rebound. Of course, nothing is guaranteed. LeMahieu and Rizzo aren't the same All-Star players they once were, and Stanton dealt with underperformance and injuries in 2023.

Nevertheless, Boone and the Yankees are counting on Judge and Soto to anchor the lineup. If they perform up to their MVP-level standards, everything else should fall into place.