2024 Outfield Grades: An Epic 1-2 Punch

The Yankees outfield consisted of Aaron Judge and Juan Soto who were the most dynamic 1-2 punch in MLB in 2024, and Alex Verdugo who was, well, meh comes to mind.  Lets get to it.

If 2024 winds up being the only season the Yankees have Juan Soto, it was some kind of amazing season.

Coming off an 82-80 non-playoff year, one that Brian Cashman deemed a disaster - and he wasn’t wrong - the Yankees knew they had to acquire Soto in the offseason when it was obvious the Padres were going to deal him. Cashman paid a hefty price, and it was worth it.

It cost the Yankees four pitchers, the best of whom was Michael King who went on to be a stud for San Diego, plus Randy Vasquez, Jhony Brito and prospect Drew Thorpe (who San Diego later flipped to the White Sox in the Dylan Cease trade), plus catcher Kyle Higashioka. As a throw in, the Padres sent outfielder Trent Grisham along with Soto.

It’s safe to say that without Soto, the Yankees don’t win the American League pennant; that’s how impactful he was, combining with MVP Aaron Judge to give the Yankees one of the greatest 1-2 punches in MLB history.

Now we wait to see what Soto does in free agency. By all accounts, he loved his time in the Bronx, loved his teammates, loved the winning, loved everything about it. But guess what? If any team - whether it’s the Mets, Dodgers, Phillies, Braves, whoever - offers him $1 more than the Yankees, he’s taking it because it is pretty clear that Soto isn’t giving the Yankees any discount. Highest bidder will win, and we have to hope that it winds up being Hal Steinbrenner.

Here is a quick explanation on a couple of key numbers I’ll be using.

For each player’s stat line, I have included games played (GP), HRs, RBI, batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, OPS, outs above average for defense, and WAR for overall performance. For those who don’t know, here are the definitions for WAR and OAA.

WAR: Known as Wins Above Replacement, measures a player’s total value to their team. It’s calculated by comparing a player’s performance to a replacement-level player, who is a player that could be added to the team for a low cost. The WAR value indicates how many more wins a player is worth than a replacement-level player. Obviously, the higher the number, the more valuable. As an example, Aaron Judge led all of MLB at 10.8. If you’re at zero, then you are no better than a backup player who would replace you.

OAA: This is based on the cumulative effect of all individual plays a fielder has been credited or debited with, making it a range-based metric of fielding skill that accounts for the number of plays made and their difficulty. The scale is simple: Zero is average, anything in plus territory is good, negative not so good.

CF Aaron Judge: A+

• GP: 158

• HR: 58

• RBI: 144

• BA: .322

• OBP: .458

• SLG: .701

• OPS: 1.159

• OAA: -6

• WAR: 10.8

The lasting image we will have of Judge in 2024 is watching him completely shit the bed in the postseason. Sorry, but the AL MVP failed miserably in October and his no-show was a big reason why the Yankees really didn’t compete with the Dodgers. It was bad enough that Judge did nothing against the Royals and Guardians, but it was easy enough to overcome given the competition. But against the Dodgers, Judge needed to be the MVP and he was about the furthest thing possible from that.

He hit .184 in the postseason with three homers and nine RBI in 14 games and struck out 20 times in 64 plate appearances. His career playoff numbers remain abysmal - a career .205 hitter in 58 games. And his dropped fly ball in the fifth inning of World Series Game 5 started all the trouble in what was one of the most embarrassing innings of playoff baseball in team history.

OK, all that said, Judge was amazing in 2024. After a terrible April, he caught fire and burned hot all the way until October when he was finally doused. He led MLB in WAR, homers, RBI, walks (133), on-base, slugging, OPS, and total bases (392).

Defensively, on the surface Judge looks fine in center field, and the dropped ball in the World Series was his only error of the year. But for some reason, the advanced fielding metrics don’t like him and his -6 oAA ranked 40th among 41 qualified center fielders. I don’t think he was that bad, far from it, but he is definitely better suited to right field. He’ll be back there in 2025 if Soto isn’t re-signed.

Judge will turn 33 in late April, and I don’t know how much longer he’ll be able to play like this. Given that there’s still seven more years and $280 million on his contract, the Yankees need it to continue, but I said it when they signed him to this deal after 2022, I don’t think he’s going to age well and if you think these last few years of Giancarlo Stanton’s contract are an albatross, wait 2-3 years on Judge. Maybe I’ll be wrong; obviously I hope I will be.

RF Juan Soto: A

• GP: 157

• HR: 41

• RBI: 109

• BA: .288

• OBP: .419

• SLG: .569

• OPS: .989

• OAA: -5

• WAR: 7.9

Soto has been a superstar from the moment he made his MLB debut as a 19-year-old with the Nationals. But if you discount his tremendous 2020 COVID-shortened season when he led MLB with a 1.185 OPS and won an NL batting title at .351, his first year with the Yankees was the best of his career.

He established new highs with 41 home runs, 156 hits, 328 total bases and 7.9 WAR, he led the AL with 128 runs scored, and his 129 walks were second only to Judge’s 133. Soto was a monster hitting in front of Judge, and we can only hope that he recognized what that meant for him as he makes his decision on where to play next.

Soto’s hard hit percentage - Statcast defines a hard-hit ball as one with an exit velocity of 95 mph or higher - 0f 57% was third in MLB behind only Judge (61%) and Shohei Ohtani (60.1%).

As a fielder, he’s barely average. He doesn’t always take good angles to the ball and he can look a little shaky at both coming in and going back, but you put up with that because he’s such a great hitter. As for his arm, he tied for the MLB lead among right fielders with nine assists.

LF Alex Verdugo: C-

• GP: 149

• HR: 13

• RBI: 61

• BA: .233

• OBP: .291

• SLG: .356

• OPS.647

• OAA: +1

• WAR: 0.7

Without question, Verdugo was one of the most perplexing players on the team. He started well and by the end of the first week in May he was hitting .275 with an .812 OPS, five homers and 17 RBI. Thereafter, in the final 115 games he played, he hit .221 with a .600 OPS, eight homers and 44 RBI.

He patented the groundout to the right side and for the season he hit just .239 with runners in scoring position and he grounded into 14 double plays, third-most on the team behind Judge (AL-most 22) and Stanton (17).

In left field, Verdugo played better than his OAA of +1 would indicate. He made just one error, he had seven assists, and he was trusty out there which is why he played in the postseason instead of rookie Jasson Dominguez who was anything but trusty in the brief playing time he got in September.

I thought acquiring Verdugo was going to be a good move for the Yankees, but he set career lows for average, on-base, slugging and OPS and there’s no way they should consider bringing him back as a free agent.

OF Trent Grisham: C-

• GP: 76

• HR: 9

• RBI: 31

• BA: .190

• OBP: .290

• SLG: .385

• OPS: .675

• OAA: +2

• WAR: 0.4

Thankfully, because Judge and Soto stayed healthy all season, there really wasn’t much of a need to use Grisham. He’s in the majors because he’s a good defender, and when he had his opportunities, he proved that. As a hitter, he could not have started much worse. In his first 31 games (21 starts) he was 6-for-60, though three of his hits were three-run homers so that was pretty weird.

He picked it up in the second half of the season, but he played in only 17 games from August on, and while he was on the postseason roster in all three series, he never got into a game.

DH Giancarlo Stanton: B+

• GP: 114

• HR: 27

• RBI: 72

• BA: .233

• OBP: .298

• SLG: .475

• OPS: .773

• OAA: NA

• WAR: 0.7

My Stanton grade was influenced by the tremendous postseason he gave the Yankees because that cannot be ignored. He had seven homers, 16 RBI and a 1.048 OPS and time after time he came through in big moments, one of the few Yankees who could be counted on.

During the regular season, it was much of what we’ve seen from Stanton the last few years. He had his annual injury that cost him more than a month, but he did raise his average from .191 in 2023 to .233, and his OPS jumped up from his career-worst .695 in 2023.

Stanton’s advanced metrics remain elite. For instance, his 81.7 mph average bat speed led MLB and his 55.3 hard-hit percentage was sixth. But his strikeout percentage of 31.2 was the second-highest of his career because there is no player in MLB who swings and misses quite like Stanton.