Soto sends latest spring moon shot to the highway

TAMPA, Fla. -- Aaron Judge said he had the best view in the house for Juan Soto’s 447-foot, three-run homer on Sunday afternoon. The rest of the Yankees also found no lousy vantage point from which to view that one.

“Oh, my goodness. That was probably one of the farthest ones I’ve seen hit here in Spring Training,” Judge said. “I’ve seen some guys go down the line over that little bar over there, but for him to go right-center with ease, that was pretty impressive.”

Soto’s fourth spring home run came off Patrick Halligan in the fourth inning of Sunday’s 9-8 Grapefruit League win over the Braves at George M. Steinbrenner Field, a blast calculated to come off the slugger’s bat at 112.2 mph.

The ball came to rest adjacent to Dale Mabry Highway, where a passing bicyclist retrieved it. Judge said that he has been ribbing Soto about not sprinting out of the batter’s box, telling him, “You’ve got to enjoy a couple of these.”

Soto took Judge’s advice this time, savoring his trip around the bases.

“In the dugout, everyone was excited,” Judge said. “They were just trying to look at the exit velo, they’re trying to see the distance, all that kind of stuff that we can see. So that was a nice one.”

As manager Aaron Boone put it: “That’s how I used to not hit them.”

Boone continued: “It’s amazing how much space he creates for himself. It’s just a really special swing. It’s a battle every time. It’s fun to watch him take an at-bat.”

Giancarlo Stanton said that he missed Soto’s blast, as he was in the batting cages preparing for his next at-bat, adding: “But I saw the metrics on it.”

“Pitchers seem to have nothing for him,” Stanton said. “They throw everything and the kitchen sink, and he just stares at you, holds it and hits a line-drive homer somewhere.”

Opening Day preview?
Boone said that, with a few tweaks, Sunday’s lineup “could be” a glimpse of the batting order that the Yankees will field on March 28 for their Opening Day contest against the Astros at Minute Maid Park.

That would have DJ LeMahieu, Soto and Judge in the top three spots, followed by Anthony Rizzo, Gleyber Torres and Stanton. The bottom three spots went to Alex Verdugo, Jose Trevino and Oswaldo Cabrera; Anthony Volpe would replace Cabrera at shortstop in Houston.

“It depends who’s pitching against us,” Boone said. “I might play with 4-5-6, depending if it’s left-right. I might juggle that a little bit.”

With Justin Verlander beginning the season on the injured list due to right shoulder inflammation, left-hander Framber Valdez will likely start Opening Day for Houston. Judge said the Yanks’ lineup will be a tall order for every pitcher this year.

“When you’ve got that one through five, one through six, it just keeps going,” Judge said. “That’s the thing I’m noticing now with this lineup; it just doesn’t stop after the first inning, the first couple of hitters. I’m pretty excited about what this offense is capable of. I think everyone is ready to get rolling.”

Settling in
Clarke Schmidt salvaged his afternoon after a rough first inning in which he allowed the first four Braves to reach base, surrendered Sean Murphy’s three-run double and Forrest Wall’s run-scoring hit and threw a wild pitch.

“The goal was to try sequences that we haven’t used before,” Schmidt said. “We wanted to try to throw a few more sinkers, see how the cutter plays off the sinker in different areas. [The Braves] came out firing, so it was like, ‘Let’s go back to locking in after the first inning.’”

Boone thought Schmidt was “a little off, command-wise, for the first few hitters.” Schmidt held Atlanta from there, scattering four hits over 2 2/3 innings. He walked two and struck out five, throwing 34 of 52 pitches for strikes.

“We’re trying to work on things,” Schmidt said. “We also want to compete and be ourselves, but there’s no time to work on things during the season to test things out, test different sequences. That’s kind of what Spring Training is for.”