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With less than 10 days until the regular season kicks off, many are still wondering who will be batting leadoff in the Bronx. The two most common answers so far seem to be Austin Wells or Ben Rice.
Since 2021, the Yankees have been looking for a consistent bat to lead off the game. In 2021, DJ LeMahieu was in the leadoff spot 144 times, and no one has led off more than 89 times in a season since then. In the last three seasons, 20 different players have started at least one game in the leadoff spot.
Last year, Anthony Volpe led the team with 76 leadoff appearances. All 76 of those appearances came in consecutive games until the decision was made to move Volpe down in the lineup after he started to struggle at the plate. After that decision, six different players fought for that spot.
As you can see, the Yankees have been lacking a consistent hitter at the top of the order. And in New York, that position could not be more valuable with Aaron Judge most likely moving back to the second spot in the order. Judge can strike with a long ball at any time, meaning whoever is hitting before him needs to consistently get on base.
We saw in 2023 that teams would rather walk Judge and face the batters behind him. In a lot of those situations, there was no one on base for Judge. If there was a leadoff hitter consistently getting on, teams would be much more careful about giving Judge a free base and putting multiple runners on.
Now back to 2025. In spring training, the Yankees have rolled out four different hitters in the lead-off spot. Wells has led off 11 times, Jazz Chisholm Jr. seven times, Rice six times and Jasson Dominguez has led off once.
Two of those hitters (Chisholm and Dominguez) fit the mold of stereotypical leadoff hitters: hitting the ball hard and being fast runners. Dominguez is unlikely to hit in the leadoff spot, as his one appearance came in the first game of spring training.
What Chisholm brings to the table is speed. He stole 40 bags last year between his time with the Yankees and Marlins. He has led off the second most times this spring, but his splits aren’t making for a consistent leadoff hitter as he’s only getting on base at a .237 clip.
Despite not appearing as a typical leadoff hitter, Wells and Rice have been getting on base. Rice has a .340 OBP this spring while Wells has maintained a .421 OBP. As of today, it seems Wells is the more likely choice with his current spring average of .355.
Those are stats that a manager loves to see from his leadoff hitter. Last season only two batters had above a .400 OBP, Judge and Juan Soto. If Wells can maintain anywhere near that level, he could be the Yankees leadoff hitter all season long.
