- The Yankees hit 15 homers and scored 36 runs during a three-game sweep at Yankee Stadium to open the 2025 season.
- Cody Bellinger, Paul Goldschmidt, Anthony Volpe and Austin Wells, Chisholm Jr. are using the new “torpedo’’ bat, with the exaggerated (but MLB legal) barrel that has set the game aflame.
NEW YORK – Yankees manager Aaron Boone accurately dubbed it “the week of overreaction,’’ applying caution to anything good or bad during his club’s opening weekend.
But a scalding-hot start with the bats – torpedo-style or traditional – carries the extra advantage of silencing those “How much do you miss Juan Soto?’’ queries out of the gate.
Here’s one way to do it…
Smash 15 homers and score 36 runs during a three-game sweep at Yankee Stadium.
“I like the approach, just the frame of mind,’’ said Boone following Sunday’s 12-3 win, sending the Brewers home to Milwaukee with a 12.75 staff ERA.
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“It’s just three games, but you take wins where you can get them because they don’t come off the board.”
Walking Aaron Judge, pitching to Jazz Chisholm Jr.
You know it’s a tough Bronx weekend when Brewers first baseman Jake Bauers pitches in consecutive blowout games – emerging with two scoreless innings.
“Over here it’s about scoring runs and winning games,’’ said Jazz Chisholm Jr., who launched two of the Yanks’ four homers Sunday, with Aaron Judge and Ben Rice also going deep.
“Our goal obviously is not a realistic goal, but it’s to win 162,’’ said Chisholm Jr. “That’s our mindset.’’
As for watching Judge being walked in front of him, well, “it gets me a little bit more hyped up, you know?
Coming off Saturday’s three-homer game, Judge lashed a first-inning, two-run homer off Aaron Civale and the Brewers essentially stopped pitching to him.
With two out, none on and a 3-0 count in the third, Judge was just passed to first base, and Chisholm Jr. took Civale over the right field fence for a 5-0 lead.
“That was big time,’’ said Judge. “If they’re going to put me on base and pitch to the next guy, that guy’s got to step up.’’
Judge walked again in the seventh, and Chisholm Jr. cashed in with a three-run homer off Joel Payamps.
“If they’re not going to challenge me, they’re going to challenge you,’’ Judge said of Chisholm Jr. “He’s been swinging such a hot bat all spring training. Excited to see what he does this year.”
Marcus Stroman, torpedo bats & all that Jazz
Marcus Stroman reached his 80-pitch, opening start limit – exiting after 4.2 innings.
About a month ago, you wondered how Stroman fit in a rotation that still had Gerrit Cole (Tommy John surgery) and Luis Gil (lat strain) firmly in the picture.
And there’s still a show-me sentiment surrounding Soto’s one-and-done Yankee career.
There’s no replacement for the unique, dynamic offensive presence Soto took to the Mets via free agency, but the new collective – including Cody Bellinger and Paul Goldschmidt – is showing its promise.
“What this offense has been doing is pretty special, the potential this group has,’’ said Stroman, thrilled with his support after yielding three runs on five hits – including a Bauers’ home run.
“We’re flying torpedoes all around the park,’’ said Chisholm Jr.. “No pun intended.’’
Like Bellinger, Goldschmidt, Anthony Volpe and Austin Wells, Chisholm Jr. is using the new “torpedo’’ bat, with the exaggerated (but MLB legal) barrel that has set the game aflame.
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“It’s working pretty well for me,’’ said Chisholm Jr., who also connected Saturday, when the Yanks mashed a franchise-record nine homers in a 20-9 victory.
Chisholm Jr. began using the torpedo bat during the last week-and-a-half of spring training, and “it doesn’t feel like a different bat,’’ though he instantly liked the results.
During a Grapefruit League game, Chisholm Jr. picked up one of Volpe’s bats and hit a double. A day later, he used it and belted a homer.
“You know what? (I found) my new bat,’’ Chisholm Jr. said.
He might not know the physics behind it, but “it gives you a feeling of just having more to work with,’’ Chisholm Jr. said of the outsized barrel. “You probably don’t, but it feels like you do.
“It gives you that extra confidence in your head that I can hit anything.’’