It’s safe to say that the Yankees are the hottest team in baseball right now. They have started the year out 8-2, which is currently the best record in baseball and the club's best start since 2003. But has the addition of Juan Soto meant that much to last year's 25th-ranked offense? While adding a top 5 hitter in Juan Soto doesn't hurt, Yankee fans have a lot of other encouraging things to take away from the first 10 games of the season. 

Not Relying on the Long Ball. 

Past Yankees teams have mainly relied on the home run ball to be the main producer of their scoring, and while this team certainly has the capability of hitting the most home runs in the league this year, the 2024 Yankees have shown they can score in other ways. Last year the 2023 team scored 673 runs and hit 219 home runs, while this year's team has scored 49 runs on 11 Homers. This puts them on pace for 793 runs and 178.2 home runs. That would mean 120 more runs on 40.8 fewer long balls. So why the change? Off-season addition, Juan Soto has been helpful in this regard, but to me, it’s been the Yankee's ability to get deep into counts to control at-bats that has led opposing pitchers and defenses to make mistakes. In the American League this year, the Yanks have 4-5 of the leaders in pitches seen this year in Gleyber Torres, Juan Soto, Aaron Judge, and most importantly 2nd-year shortstop Anthony Volpe who has shined bright in the first 10 games of the season. His ability to battle in AB's and his new and improved swing have given him the 2nd highest average In the league and the 5th highest OBP. In the team's 5-2 win over the Diamondbacks on Monday, the young shortstop went 4-4 for the first time in his career. While most fans were disappointed in his rookie season, fans would be ecstatic if the kid previously deemed the next Jeter could hit in front of Soto and Judge come June. Once you add in the fact that Gleyber, Rizzo, and Verdugo are still all struggling, this is a lineup most pitchers will be terrified to face from 1-9. 

Pitching.

 Losing the American League reigning CY Young is a tough pill for any team to swallow especially for the Yankees who relied so much on their Ace after trading Micheal King to the Padres and Luis Servino signing with the Mets. The Yankees Rotation going into opening day looked weak at best. However, all 5 guys have stepped up to the call. Starting with Opening Day Starter Nest Cortes who has been solid so far. (Nasty Nestor) has been struggling this year and you can tell he hasn’t quite found his stuff. However, Nestor will always grind out innings for you and keep you in the game long enough to give your team a chance to win. Carlos Rodon has looked like his old self so far this spring as his fastball which was sitting 92 in 2023 is now touching 98 regularly.  Many fans and reporters deemed Rodon as the club's X-Factor this season and if he keeps pitching the way he is right now the Yankees rotation will be in great shape when Cole gets back. The Yankee's lone free agent signing from this winter has danced and dazzled in his first 2 starts as a Yankees thus far. He dominated a talented Houston Lineup in his first start before coming back and throwing 6 innings of shutout baseball in the home opener. (The Team would go on to lose that game 3-0.) So far it’s as simple as Strow Show has shined bright in pinstripes eclipsing 100 pitches in both starts and has given up 0 earned runs. However, as good as Stroman and Rodon have looked, the most surprising pitcher so far has been Luis Gil. He has not yet recorded his first win but has been dominant so far in his first 2 outings. Boone had Gil on a pitch count but in the few pitches he had thrown he has looked outstanding with his fastball getting into the triple Digits, Gil has looked great since his Tommy John Surgery. 

Health?

The thing that worries me the most about this team is their ability to stay healthy. The Yankees have dealt with the injury bug over the last couple of summers and this season we have already seen a ton of key pieces on the IR. In preseason DJ LeMahieu triggered a past foot injury putting him on the 15-day IR. However, the good news on Lemahieu is that he’s almost ready to return as he took batting practice on April 5th. The big injury so far has been to reigning CY Young winner Gerrit Cole who was placed on the 60-day IR. He is set to return in May but the Yankees will ramp him up slowly as fatigue was what injured him in the first place. During the season the Yankees have already lost Jonathan Loaisiga who is done for the year as the injury requires him to have season-ending UCL surgery.  In summary, this team has the talent but it will require all 40 men on the roster to step up if they want to win their first ring since 2009. 

Look Ahead 

The Yankees start a three-game series tonight with the struggling Miami Marlins who picked up their first win yesterday after starting the season 0-9. The club looks to sweep the Marlins and finish the homestand at 5-1 before heading to Cleveland to play the red-hot Guardians. While 3 of those 8 wins came against the Athletics the Guardians are a sneaky team who can and will surprise people this year.