Yankees Appear To Have Decided Who Will Be Their Leadoff Hitter This Season

The New York Yankees knew the upcoming season would look differently for them when it came to their lineup and pitching staff after they went through a busy winter.

Once they lost Juan Soto to the New York Mets, the front office pivoted and put that money to use at multiple positions, adding Max Fried to their starting rotation, signing Paul Goldschmidt to become their new first baseman, taking on the salary of Cody Bellinger in a trade and acquiring star closer Devin Williams from the Milwaukee Brewers.

Things looked rosy on paper until the injury bug crushed them during the spring.

Now, with only a few days left until the 2025 campaign officially gets underway, the Yankees are scrambling to put all the pieces together so they can attempt to reach the World Series again after losing in the Fall Classic last year.

One thing that will be different in the lineup is their leadoff hitter.

That was a role both Gleyber Torres and Alex Verdugo operated out of last season, but with neither on the team after Torres signed with the Detroit Tigers and Verdugo inked a late deal with the Atlanta Braves, someone will have to step into that spot.

And it seems like it's going to be Austin Wells.

Coming off his rookie campaign where he finished third in AL Rookie of the Year voting, the slugging catcher seems poised to take his game to the next level.

New York appears to think so, too, putting Wells in the leadoff spot throughout the spring which makes it look like that will be his role when the season gets underway.

While he hasn't been explicitly told by the team he will be batting first, he discussed the possibility of that on "The Show with Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman."

Austin Wells hasn't been told he's going to hit leadoff but understands that all signs are pointing that way and thinks "it's pretty cool"

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"I think it's pretty cool," he said. "Honestly, I've never done it before. I've never thought about doing it before. So, coming in and, you know, in the second game of my spring training hitting leadoff, I was like 'oh OK, just maybe get some more at-bats. Something different.' And then after it was like, 'eh, could be a real thing.' And then I haven't came out of the spot from then on."

Wells doesn't profile as a typical leadoff hitter.

The power-hitting lefty slashed .229/.322/.395 with 13 homers, 32 extra-base hits and 55 RBI across his 414 plate appearances last year.

That's more in line with a cleanup guy or someone further down the order.

However, baseball is an everchanging game when it comes to analytics, and similar to Kyle Schwarber of the Philadelphia Phillies, Wells is able to walk at a higher rate than the league average, something that could set the table for the rest of the lineup early if he gets on base that way.

No official announcement has been made about this, yet, so it will be interesting to see what actually happens on Opening Day.

But all signs are pointing to Wells being the first batter for the Yankees during the 2025 season.

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