When you look at the Yankees’ Opening Day lineup, you find a sea of power hitters that might make your knees shake on the mound: Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Gleyber Torres, Luke Voit…shall I continue?

But then you go to the nine hole and find Tyler Wade, who was filling in for DJ LeMahieu at second base Thursday night. Wade doesn’t possess that thundering pop like his teammates naturally do. However, he displayed why he continuously remains a valuable piece of this Yankees’ roster in that first win of the season.

Wade worked a walk off Max Scherzer in the top of the third inning, and after Aaron Hicks couldn’t move him over, Judge came to the plate. The 6-foot-7 slugger roped a Scherzer pitch down the left field line, and normally that would mean runners on second and third with Torres coming to the plate to bring them home.

Unless Wade is sprinting around the diamond.

Wade’s speed killed once again, as he made it home in ample time.

“I was joking with him after he scored for me from first on that double, it was just like the Charleston [RiverDogs] days,” Judge told The New York Post’s Dan Martin. “I played my first organized season with the Yankees in Low-A Charleston and had Wade and Michael O’Neill in front of me and they were so fast, scoring from first all the time.”

Another example of Wade’s speed came on his perfectly placed bunt in the fifth inning, where he got the Nats infield sleeping and reached first with no problem. And that bunt led to Stanton hitting an RBI single later in the inning.

Having Wade on base is a different kind of lethal compared to most of the lineup using brawn to hit baseballs to the seats. That’s where manager Aaron Boone believes he sets himself apart and provides a perfect complement to others on the roster.

“I think he’s got it in him to be a guy that controls the strike zone, which is critical for him,” Boone explained. “Not chasing is the difference for him being a really good major league player or struggling. With his speed – obviously we saw the bunt game into play tonight – he’s a special kind of baserunner.

“If he can get on base enough, he’s a guy who can affect the game.”

With the new extra-innings rule – a player is immediately placed on second base to start the inning – Wade figures to be at the top of pinch-run candidates on the bench. And his versatility of playing every position other than pitcher and catcher allows Boone to place him anywhere in the lineup on any night.

The guys jogging around the bases for hitting balls over 400 feet get the most spotlight, but players like Wade – who provide solid at-bats and are menaces on the base paths – will quietly produce behind the scenes without an issue.

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