Red-Hot New York Yankees Make Major Leap in Most Recent Power Rankings

Despite a turbulent winter and spring, the New York Yankees once again look like one of the very best teams in all of MLB.

Apr 20, 2025; Tampa, Florida, USA; New York Yankees starting pitcher Max Fried (54) leaves a game against the Tampa Bay Rays in the eighth inning at George M. Steinbrenner Field. | Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

It was a brutal winter and spring training to be a New York Yankees fan, with the departure of Juan Soto and an endless barrage of crucial injuries casting a dark cloud over the 2025 season.

But the team has shown its resiliency in the first month of the campaign, as they hold 15-10 record that has them leading the American League East by a game-and-a-half.

Without ace Gerrit Cole and reigning American League Rookie of the Year Luis Gil, free agent acquisition Max Fried has stepped in as the team's new ace, and the rest of the pitching staff has found ways to piece together wins.

In the most recent edition of ESPN's MLB power rankings, the Yankees climbed from No. 7 to No. 4, reflective of a strong week of play that saw New York sweep the Kansas City Royals and take three of four from the Tampa Bay Rays.

ESPN analyst Jorge Castillo highlighted the excellence of captain Aaron Judge in his justification for New York's rise up the ranks.

"If it wasn't obvious last year, Aaron Judge is still proving he's the best hitter on the planet -- and it's not particularly close," Castillo wrote. "The two-time AL MVP has been Bondsian (should it just be Judgian at this point?) again to start the season."

It's true that we're running out of superlatives for just how dominant Judge has been in this era.

He is without a peer in his ability to combine frequent contact with incessant power, and he has finally fixed the one hole in his offensive game this year.

From 2017 to 2019, Judge was in the fifth percentile or worse among all MLB hitters in strikeout rate. In 2021 and 2022, he improved to the 25th percentile, but he regressed in 2023 to the 16th percentile after his record-breaking performance the year before.

In 2024, he posted a career-low strikeout rate of 24.3%, still well below average in the 35th percentile, but he's finally improved to above league average in 2025, now at 20.4% and in the 55th percentile.

Given that he's essentially the best in the world at practically every other metric, it's horrible news for pitchers and Yankees opponents that he's now harder to strike out than the average Major Leaguer.

Judge has been supported by fantastic output from outfielder Trent Grisham, first baseman Paul Goldschmidt and designated hitter Ben Rice, but the team will need more from others like Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Austin Wells to offset possible regression from the aforementioned trio.