Yankees: Where should Greg Bird and Gleyber Torres bat in the lineup?

On Monday the Yankees made some changes to the batting order with the recently activated Greg Bird in the cleanup spot and rookie phenom Gleyber Torres right behind him batting fifth.

Even though the Yankees lost Monday’s Memorial Day matinee with the Astros, behind another dominant performance from Justin Verlander, you had to like the changes Aaron Boone made to his lineup.

With Giancarlo Stanton getting the day off Boone opted to move up Bird all the way to the four hole and he responded driving in the Yankees only run by taking Verlander deep for his first home run of the season. The struggling Didi Gregorius was moved all the way down to seventh in the order and Torres was finally moved up after spending most of his time in the nine hole.

Torres has been unbelievable hitting at the bottom of the order with nine home runs in May, but he’s been way too productive to continue to be the last batter in the lineup. Yes, it’s nice to have him essentially serve as a second leadoff guy, however, he’s already proven that he should be a middle to top of the order bat for the rest of his career.

He’s been arguably the Yankees best hitter in recent weeks and you want your best hitters getting as many at-bats as they can over the course of a game. Whether he continues to bat fifth remains to be seen once Stanton returns to the lineup, but the days of him batting ninth should be over.

It was nice to see Didi bounce back with his first two-hit game since May 3rd after he’s experienced what has probably been the worst month of his big league career. It will be interesting to see if Boone keeps him down in the seven hole because if this is the beginning of a turn around he should also be batting higher in the order. Personally, I like Didi, right behind Gary Sanchez in the five-hole batting sixth so the Yanks can continue to split righties and lefties as much as they can 1-9.

Than after Didi I would bat Torres followed by fellow rookie slugger Miguel Andujar and the switch-hitting Aaron Hicks in the nine spot. There’s no reason to keep batting Hicks behind Sanchez in the six spot now that the Yankees are at full strength and his ability to work deep counts makes him a nice fit at the bottom of the order.

As for Bird, now that he’s back and already producing don’t be surprised if Boone decides to insert him between Judge and Stanton in the third spot in the order. With the way Didi has struggled, a healthy Bird might be their best option right now to be the lefty tasked with splitting up the two right-handed boppers in the top half of the order.

It’s something Boone experimented with this spring and it makes a lot of sense especially if Bird is going to produce like he did down the stretch of last season and in the playoffs. When Tyler Austin or Neil Walker get a spot start at first with a lefty on the mound than Boone can just go with Judge, Stanton, and Sanchez in the heart of his order. He could also move Torres up behind them batting fifth.

What should the lineup look like against righties?

With right-hander, Charlie Morton on the mound tonight for Houston here is the lineup Boone should deploy in these kinds of matchups:

1. LF Gardner
2. RF Judge
3. 1B Bird
4. DH Stanton
5. C Sanchez
6. SS Didi
7. 2B Torres
8. 3B Andujar
9. CF Hicks

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This lineup still splits up the righties and lefties like Boone loves to do and it also provides protection to everybody in the order. With Didi behind Sanchez in the six spot and Torres right behind him, there is no let up in this order from top to bottom.

Pitchers will have to attack these Yankee hitters with strikes and more fastballs because if they put someone on base by pitching around them than there are guys on deck who will be ready to make them pay.

The weak link might be Hicks batting last but even he’s turned it around of late and should do a nice job of turning the lineup over for Brett Gardner and company to follow.

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Regardless of how Boone decides to pencil in his lineup this Yankee offense is still going to be amongst the best in the game just based on talent alone. However, I think this is the type of lineup that could help them reach their full potential and make them a matchup nightmare against anyone.