Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images

Aaron Boone Makes Surprise Announcement on Yankees Lineup

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Sean Deveney | Last updated Mar 17, 2025 10:37 AM ET

Typically, the guy who mans the top spot in an MLB team's batting order has some combination of speed and an ability to get on base. But as we've seen over the course of the past year, with the Yankees, speed is just not their thing.

The Yankees had one player, shortstop Anthony Volpe, who topped 20 steals last season. Volpe was the leadoff man for a chunk of last season, but his .293 on-base percentage made that untenable. Overall, their 88 steals as a team ranked 24th in baseball last year.

The Yankees are running more this spring, with 26 steals in 23 games, though most of those swipes are coming from players who will not be regulars when the games start to count.

So, if the Bombers won't start games with a wave of speed, at least they can have a strong on-base presence to lead things off. According to manager Aaron Boone, that's how things are likely to play out as spring training wraps up.

The Yankees are likely to start off with Austin Wells in a rare spot as far as catchers go: As the lead-off man.

“I think you can read into it a little bit, yeah,” Boone said Sunday. “I like him there. It may continue to evolve. I don’t know that we’ve seen many lefty starters at all. I might change it up there if we were to see a left-handed starter possibly. But I’ve really liked him in that spot. I think he profiles well for it."

While Boone all but announced that Wells will start the season at leadoff, he conceded he might not remain there.

"But there’s also a number of guys I could still envision being in that role," Boone said. "That hasn’t changed necessarily. It’s more the fact that I just really like what I’m seeing with Austin and think he can be pretty dynamic there.”

Wells has been one of the Yankees' best players this spring, hitting .355 with a .412 on-base mark and a .710 slugging percentage.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads: