Predicting the 2025 New York Yankees’ Opening Day Starting Lineup
By Derek McAdam
February 12, 2025
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The 2025 MLB season is nearly set to begin with Spring Training, and the regular season is just a few weeks out. There are many questions for the Yankees heading into Spring Training, including who their starting third baseman will be, in addition to where Marcus Stroman will be playing this season.
But instead of answering these questions, I’m going to jump straight to Opening Day, which is slated for March 27 against the Milwaukee Brewers at Yankee Stadium. And this year, Opening Day looks a little bit different for the Yankees.
For starters, they will no longer have Juan Soto hitting 2nd in the lineup and playing right field. It will also be the first Opening Day since 2018 that Gleyber Torres will not be playing second base. There have also been several new additions to the team, including Cody Bellinger and Paul Goldschmidt.
With that being said, here is my Opening Day starting lineup prediction. It must be mentioned that these predictions are being made without any sort of injuries occurring, so they can obviously be subject to change.
1. Jazz Chisholm Jr. (2B)
With Torres departing to the Detroit Tigers, the Yankees will be in need of a new leadoff hitter. The Yankees do have a current player who has leadoff experience, but I think Chisholm brings a couple of interesting traits to the leadoff spot. First, and foremost, he has good speed, which the Yankees lacked with Torres leading off.
Chisholm is not the greatest hitter, but he can take a few pitches every now and then. This was a strength of Torres, and working opposing pitchers from the start can be an effective way to end their night’s earlier. Even if Chisholm doesn’t get on base, he can still make a big contribution by setting the tone for the rest of the lineup.
2. Cody Bellinger (CF)
This is where things start to get very interesting. It seems right that someone else should be hitting in this position, since Soto is now a New York Met. But, I like the idea of Bellinger in this spot for a couple of reasons.
First, Bellinger has decent speed and is a good hitter. Combine those two together with Chisholm in the leadoff spot and the Yankees have the fastest duo of players leading off the lineup since Jacoby Ellsbury and Brett Gardner played together a decade ago. And when those two played together, it was much more exciting to watch.
I like the idea of having a couple of faster players in the top two spots leading up to this player.
3. Aaron Judge (RF)
If Judge is not going to be hitting second, he will be hitting third. While he doesn’t have Soto hitting in front of him, he still has a good hitter that can get on base.
Judge has been the No. 2 hitter in the lineup for many years, but I see Aaron Boone sticking with Judge in the No. 3 slot. He won an MVP last year in this spot, so maybe the Yankees’ logic is that he can do it again.
4. Giancarlo Stanton (DH)
The Yankees’ playoff MVP will slot right back into his position that he held throughout the post-season run last year. Regardless of how he performs throughout the regular season, Stanton is always a threat and having him right behind Judge can be terrifying for many pitchers to face.
5. Austin Wells (C)
Wells spent a lot of time last season as the cleanup hitter, but I see the Yankees using him right around the No. 5 or No. 6 slot in the lineup. My thought process for putting him in the fifth slot is to break the lineup up a little. Chisholm and Bellinger are both left-handed batters, while Judge and Stanton are both right-handed.
Slotting Wells into this spot provides a little balance, but also sets up the rest of the lineup.
6. Paul Goldschmidt (1B)
Goldschmidt would usually be higher on any list, and that is definitely an argument that many Yankee fans could make right now. The idea of having Goldschmidt in the No. 6 slot hangs on two ideas.
First, the Yankees may want Goldschmidt down this far to bring more balance to the lineup, but they also may want to see where he stands with regards to hitting. Can he pickup where he left off last season or will he get off to a slow start? It will be his to prove, so this is a nice starting place for the time being.
7. Anthony Volpe (SS)
Volpe was the one player I referenced earlier that has had leadoff experience, but I cannot see the Yankees placing Chisholm below the No. 6 spot in the lineup. This is where Volpe can really show his value.
Slotting Volpe into the bottom of the lineup has proved to benefit him more than the leadoff spot. He seems to hit much better and gets on base more often. While it would be ideal for him to do so in the leadoff spot, the Yankees would gladly see him succeed more if it means he hits in the bottom of the order.
Plus, it’s never a bad thing to have a more complete lineup from top to bottom.
8. Jasson Dominguez (LF)
This is a big opportunity for Dominguez, who has shown brief flashes of solid baseball with the Yankees. The question is if he can return to his form from 2023 before his injury or whether it will take some more time.
It will also be interesting to see how he does in left field, as he definitely showed some weaknesses playing the position last season. Hopefully, he has used the off-season to improve in this area.
9. Oswaldo Cabrera (3B)
Cabrera’s selection as the final hitter in the lineup does lead to some speculation about how I think the battle at third base will end. And while I’d like to insert Cabrera higher in the batting order, I don’t feel as if there is anywhere else to put him.
SP: Gerrit Cole
Barring any sort of major injury like last Spring Training, I don’t see anyone else taking Cole’s spot as the Opening Day starter. He’s the ace of this squad and is deserving of the honor to take the hill on Opening Day.
