Who Will Be the Yankees’ Second-Best Hitter in 2025?
With Juan Soto out of the fold in the Bronx, the baseball world is left to wonder who will be Robin to Aaron Judge's Batman in the Yankees' lineup.
Despite reaching the World Series last year for the first time since 2009, the New York Yankees entered the offseason under a cloud of uncertainty of whether superstar outfielder Juan Soto was going to be back in 2025.
When the news broke that Soto would be taking his talents to Queens in 2025 to become a New York Met, the Yankees’ cloud of uncertainty quickly became a difficult task ahead of them.
Brain Cashman and Co. were left the question; who would be the franchise’s second-best hitter in their pursuit of another trip to the Fall Classic?
Aaron Judge has a firm grasp on the club’s title of best hitter after a season where he hit .322 with a 1.159 OPS, belted 58 home runs, drove in 144 and posted a ridiculous 218 wRC+, taking home his second AL MVP in last three season.
Between a mix of existing hitters, as well as some new faces could that could make some serious noise at the plate, there are a few options of who could be the new Robin to Judge’s Batman this season in the Bronx.
Here are the top candidates to be the Yankees’ second-best hitter in 2025.
Top Candidates
Jazz Chisholm Jr.
After his lone All-Star campaign in 2022, where he posted a 134 wRC+ and .860 OPS, many wondered whether or not Chisholm had another performance like that left in the tank after a mediocre 2023 and an equally lackluster start to 2024.
All it seemed to take though was a change of scenery at the deadline for the 27-year-old to find that player again, as in 191 plate appearances across 46 games as a Yankee he slashed .273/.325/.500 with a 132 wRC+.
Now there’s a few noticeable caveats to his game. Chisholm is not great at limiting strikeouts, with a 33rd percentile K-rate (24.5%) and a 22nd percentile whiff rate (29.3%) in 2024, according to Baseball Savant.
Chisholm is also just average when it comes to quality of contact, boasting a 57th percentile hard-hit rate (41.1%), 66th percentile barrel rate (9.7%) and a 60th percentile AVG exit velocity (89.7 mph).
That being said, quality of contact isn’t the be-all-end-all for someone with the table-setting abilities he has atop the lineup.
He hits for a high enough average, has decently sneaky pop with that .500+ SLG capability, and when he does get on base he holds the speed and baserunning abilities to create better run-scoring opportunities for the guys like Judge coming after him.
The question now is: can he build off his 2024 post-deadline momentum and put it all together for a full season in pinstripes?
Giancarlo Stanton
After the postseason he had last year, where he belted seven home runs, drove in 16, posted a .994 OPS and 183 wRC+ and took home ALCS MVP honors, it wouldn’t be right to omit Stanton from this conversation.
After all he is a former MVP, five-time All-Star and two-time Silver Slugger that has built his brand as one of the most fear-inducing power hitters of this generation.
In 2024, the 35-year-old held a 98th percentile hard-hit rate (55.3%) and 99th percentile postings in both barrel rate (20.7%) and AVG exit velocity (94.6 mph).
The issue for Stanton though has been remaining on the field to make the most of his punishing power.
He’s failed to have over 500 plate appearances in the last three seasons, and his stats have struggled because of it, as he hasn’t had a batting average better than .233, an OPS above .800 or a wRC+ better than 116.
Simply put, Stanton’s been an average to below-average hitter since his 2021 season where posted a .273/.354/.516 slash line with a 138 wRC+.
Now, as 2025 approaches, it’s much of the same story surrounding Stanton, as Bryan Hoch of MLB.com reports that Stanton has not resumed baseball activities after seeking medical treatment for tennis elbows.
We’re fresh off seeing the type of world-class impact he can make when he’s healthy during the run to the World Series, so we know what he can be at the plate.
However, now it’s a matter of whether or not he can be on the field enough to showcase that hitter for the Yankees this season.
Austin Wells
Expectations are high at the catching position for the Yankees for the first time in awhile after the year Wells had in 2024.
The 25-year-old slashed .229/.322/.395 with 105 wRC+ last season. Pair that with above average defense, and it was good enough to land him a third place finish in AL Rookie of the Year voting.
Now those offensive numbers may not look overly impressive on the surface, but when you dive in a little deeper, Wells showed flashes of brilliance throughout the season.
A rough first half to the campaign, with a .216/.309/.377 slash line and a 97 wRC+, as well as a terrible final month of the season, with a .111/.217/.194 slash line and a 22 wRC+ in September, is what held him back.
However, amidst the dog days of summer, Wells had some very impressive months. In July he managed to hit .277 with a .941 OPS and a 163 wRC+. Then he followed that up in August with a .325 AVG, .936 OPS and a 165 wRC+.
While he may not be the flashiest of hitters, he boasts some respectable metrics when it comes to his approach at the dish. He sits within the league’s 89th percentile when it comes to drawing walks (11.4%) and he ranks amongst the 70th percentile in chase rate (25.5%).
From the looks of it, it took awhile for him to find his footing and then he just ran out of steam when it came to close out the year.
However, with his plate discipline if he can gain some consistency in his production from month-to-month as he continues to develop at the major league level, then he should serve as a key cog in the middle of this Yankee lineup.
Cody Bellinger
We move now into the new guys in town, starting with a former MVP in Bellinger.
Now, Bellinger isn’t the same player he was in his MVP season in 2019 when belted 47 HR, drove in 115, slashed .305/.406/.629 and posted a 161 wRC+ and 7.9 fWAR. However, he’s only a year removed from a major rebound in 2023 when hit .307 with an .881 OPS and a 136 wRC+.
The 2024 campaign was rougher in comparison to his bounce-back, with a .266 AVG, .751 OPS and 109 wRC+, but it’s still respectable nonetheless.
The major caveat for Bellinger is quality-of-contact, as he’s been consistently chasing the 2019 version of himself, but to no avail.
Since landing above the 80th percentile in hard-hit rate (86th), barrel rate (88th) and AVG exit velocity (83rd) that season, he fell to 62nd percentile or lower in each category from 2020 to 2022, and then in the 32nd percentile or lower across the board in 2023 and 2024.
However, he’s able to make up for his lack of hard contact by possessing one of the better eyes at the plate in all of baseball. Last season, the lefty-swinger landed in the 85th percentile in K-rate, striking out just 15.6% of the time.
Pair this with fact that he’ll be moving to one of the better environments in baseball for a left-handed bats, hitting towards the right field short-porch in Yankee Stadium, and suddenly his shortcomings in the quality-of-contact department seem far less detrimental.
The run-production has a chance to improve as well with Bellinger set to hit in the heart of a more well-rounded Yankees lineup than what he had in Chicago last season.
The big question here is, whether or not the 136 wRC+ guy in 2023 was just a brief flashback to his pre-COVID glory years or whether a move to the Bronx can unlock the Bellinger we all fell in love with in his early Dodger days.
Paul Goldschmidt
Speaking of former MVPs, we cannot forget the second new one New York brought into the fold this winter in Goldschmidt.
The 37-year-old first baseman has one of the best track records at the dish in all of baseball and is only a couple of years removed from an outstanding 175 wRC+ season in 2022 en-route to NL MVP honors that year.
He enters his Yankees tenure coming off his worst year of his career though, posting career-lows in AVG (.245), OBP (.302), SLG (.414), OPS (.716), BB% (7.2%) and wRC+ (100).
That being said, 2024 was a tale of two halves for Goldschmidt. In the first-half of the season, he only mustered a .230/.291/.373 slash line with a 28.2% K-rate and an 87 wRC+. In the second-half of the campaign though, he dramatically improved across the board, slashing .271/.319/.480, striking out nearly five percent less (23.6%) while posting a 120 wRC+.
Another red-flag was the drop in his walk rate in 2024, falling from a near 13% clip (12.7%) in 2023 to just over 7% (7.2%).
He may not be the MVP type player he once was, but if Goldschmidt can channel his 2024 second-half self while finding ways to draw his walks again, he’ll still be an extremely productive bat for the Yanks in 2025.
Who Has the Best Shot at Being Second-Best in the Bronx?
Let’s make one thing clear when discussing the vacant role of second-best hitter for the Yankees: none of these players come anywhere close Soto. To be fair though, very few in baseball are at his level.
However, each of these five names make a solid case on their best days to fill this role and be a suitable right-hand man for Judge.
In terms of who’s more likely to have their best day in 2025, it’s hard not to look at the opportunity in front of Bellinger and not think it’s him.
He’s a consistently healthy hitter entering a very left-handed friendly hitters’ environment with a solid group of offensive pieces surrounding him and is coming off back-to-back above average seasons at the plate.
He’s not going to perfectly replace Soto, but the stars seem more likely to align for Bellinger than anyone else in that lineup.
All things considered, the loss of Soto doesn’t look as bad some may’ve anticipated with this talented group of names with solid upside to fall back on.
Now it’s just a matter of waiting to see who will take their opportunity and run with it as the season quickly approaches.
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