Spring training could not be going much better for new Yankees superstar Juan Soto.
Soto’s latest home run — a three-run, 447-foot moonshot that landed in the George M. Steinbrenner Field parking lot – served as the exclamation point for an all-around offensive explosion by a Yankees lineup that got Jose Trevino back Sunday.
The no-doubt blast jumped off Soto’s bat at 112.2 miles per hour and cleared the right-field concourse, punctuating a five-run fourth inning in the Yankees’ 9-8 win against the Atlanta Braves.
Soto, whom the Yankees acquired in a franchise-altering December trade with the San Diego Padres, is now batting .500 (9-for-18) with four home runs, 10 RBI and a 1.828 OPS through six spring games.
Sunday’s homer came on the first pitch Soto, 25, saw from Braves reliever Patrick Halligan and put the Yankees up 7-6. Soto went 2-for-3 before his day ended in the fifth inning.
Juan. Gone. pic.twitter.com/MMgQUtk1aW
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) March 10, 2024
Soto continues to bat second in the order, directly in front of fellow slugger Aaron Judge, who went 0-for-2 with two strikeouts before becoming the first Yankees starter to sit during the fourth inning.
Sunday marked the spring debut of Trevino, who went 2-for-2 with a solo home run and a sacrifice fly in his return from a calf strain. The game represented Trevino’s first since mid-July, when a right wrist tear ended the catcher’s 2023 season.
“I love seeing him back there,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said on the YES Network game broadcast Sunday. “It’s awesome to have him back. He’s one of our leaders.”
It was an overall encouraging day for the Yankees’ new-look lineup, which featured all of its regulars other than shortstop Anthony Volpe and recorded 17 hits.
Welcome back, @HipHipJose5 💪 pic.twitter.com/CyL2d8xg56
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) March 10, 2024
Giancarlo Stanton, who entered Sunday just 1-for-15 this spring, went 2-for-3 with a 110-mile-per-hour double. DJ LeMahieu delivered a two-run single during the Yankees’ fourth-inning rally. Gleyber Torres went 2-for-2, while Alex Verdugo picked up his first RBI of the spring with a run-scoring single.
The Yankees retooled their lineup with the offseason additions of Soto and Verdugo, hoping the lefty-swinging outfielders would help improve an offense that finished 25th in runs and 29th in team batting average (.227) last year.
Soto, whom the Yankees traded prized pitchers Michael King and Drew Thorpe to acquire, and Verdugo, who arrived in a rare trade with the rival Boston Red Sox, are both impending free agents.
Less successful Sunday was Yankees starting pitcher Clarke Schmidt, who surrendered four first-inning runs – including three before he recorded an out – despite facing a traveling Braves lineup without Matt Olson, Ozzie Albies or the rehabbing Ronald Acuna Jr. (knee soreness).
Schmidt, 28, settled in from there, finishing with a line of 2.2 innings, four earned runs, four hits, two walks and five strikeouts.
A former first-round pick, Schmidt is in line to be the Yankees’ No. 5 starter after pitching to a 4.64 ERA over 33 appearances, including 32 starts, last season.
“Continuing the progression of building up, and continuing to see the results stuff-wise, is something that’s very encouraging,” Schmidt told YES. “After logging … the most innings of my career [in 2023], towards the end of the year, there was some fatigue there, for sure. To come into spring training and have my stuff be back to where it is, or up even, is very encouraging.”
Schmidt sports a 5.19 ERA and eight strikeouts in 8.2 innings this spring.
