The "New" Strat-o-Matic Yankees (2024 Season Cards)

by Paul Semendinger

March 5, 2025

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The new Strat-o-Matic cards representing the 2024 season arrived in the mail the other day. It is always a great joy to get the new cards. I have been ordering these every year (by and large) since 1982.

In my opinion, Strat-o-Matic is the greatest and most realistic (and fun) baseball board game. I have played thousands of games of Strat-o-Matic, I am sure, over the course of my lifetime.

I always love getting the new cards and seeing the player ratings. As I have done every year here, I'll share some of the highlights with some explanations:

Fielding Ratings

In short, a player's defensive rating is broken into three areas: (1) His range, (2) His propensity for making errors, (3) and the strength of his arm (for outfielders and catchers).

A 1 rating for range is the best a player can get. A 5 is the worst. In this, one would assume that a 3 is average, and I guess it is, but the way the game plays, the following seems to be a better representation of how these ratings work:

1 - Exceptional

2 - Very Good

3 - Okay, but below average

4 - Bad

5 - The Worst

Here then are how Strat-o-Matic rated some of the Yankees from last season (along with some of my quick thoughts):

• Anthony Volpe = 1 (This makes his card very valuable in the game even if he doesn't hit much. In reality, this is what's true about Anthony Volpe.)

  
  

• Juan Soto = 3 (I agree. He was slightly below average. He wasn't great, but he was far

  from terrible.)

  
  

• Oswaldo Cabrera = 2 (at third base), 4 (at second base) among other ratings (This seems pretty accurate.)

  
  

• Alex Verdugo = 2 (The way he made some great catches, I thought he might rate a 1.)

  
  

• Aaron Judge = 3 (centerfield), 2 (right field) (Very accurate, I'd say. It's best that Judge not play centerfield any longer.)

  
  

• Trent Grisham = 1 (This surprised me greatly. I did not seem him as having elite range last year.)

  
  

• Jazz Chisholm = 4 (third base) (I agree, he did not have the range nor experience to be rated any higher.)

  
  

• Gleyber Torres = 4

Arm Strength

A zero here is average. Any player with a + (plus) for arm adds "points" to a runner trying to take an extra base, or for a catcher, trying to steal a base. The higher the plus number, the weaker the arm. A - (minus) takes away running "points" and this signifies a strong arm. The higher the minus number, the stronger the arm.

• Aaron Judge -4 (That is a very very strong arm. The highest I have ever seen in the game is -5, which Judge has been rated in the past.)

  
  

• Juan Soto -3 (That is a very strong arm.)

  
  

• Austin Wells -1 (Wow! That's terrific for his first season behind the dish.)

  
  

• Jose Trevino +2 (The way I remember last year, Trevino should have been a +1,000,000. He was that bad.)

Error Ratings

In short, the lower the number here, the better, but the numbers vary greatly from position to position. I'll provide a geveral summary:

• DJ LeMahieu would make very few errors

  
  

• Gleyber Torres would make more errors than an average second baseman

  
  

• Aaron Judge would make no errors. (That World Series was so frustrating.)

  
  

• Alex Verdugo and Juan Soto would make very few errors.

  
  

• Anthony Volpe would make fewer errors than an average shortstop

Running Ratings

The fastest runners rank as a 1-17. Think Rickey Henderson. A 1-10 runner is slow. Anything under 1-10 is very slow. The lower, the slower.

• Anthony Volpe: 1-16

  
  

• Jazz Chisholm: 1-16

  
  

• Aaron Judge: 1-13

  
  

• Juan Soto: 1-12

  
  

• Gleyber Torres: 1-11

  
  

• This was a slow team....Anthony Rizzo, Jose Trevino, and DJ LeMahieu are all 1-9.

  
  

• Giancarlo Stanton: 1-8 (I have never seen a slower running rating. Many players over the years have been a 1-8. Still, as I watched Stanton last year, I thought they should make him even slower.)

Pitching

In the game, pitching is a bit more nuanced and it's more difficlut to easily explain the pitcher cards, but here are some general thoughts:

• In the game Clay Holmes has a pretty good card (it reflects his stats). There isn't a column for blowing the game in a frustrating fashion. (Maybe there should be.)

  
  

• Luis Gil will get tired in the 5th inning. He'll also walk a ton of batters.

  
  

• Luke Weaver will be okay, but there isn't a card for Playoff Luke Weaver.

  
  

• Marcus Stroman is going to be pitching with men on base all the time. He'll also get tired in the 5th inning.

  
  

• Gerrit Cole should be fine. He gets tired in the 6th inning. Carlos Rodon also reaches the 6th before getting tired. Every other Yankees starter gets tired in the 5th inning. This team would be using the bullpen all of the time as a tired pitcher in the game loses his effectivness.

  
  

• A smart manager, even a poor manager, would never use the Mark Leiter, Jr. card in a close game if he wants to win the game. It's simply an ugly card for a pitcher.