Well, here we are again. Yankees DH/Outfielder Giancarlo Stanton is expected to miss about six weeks according to manager Aaron Boone. Certainly not the news Yankees fans were hoping for.
Giancarlo Stanton Has Injury History With Yankees
This unfortunately has become an annual occurrence for Stanton since his second season in Pinstripes. Over his four seasons in the Bronx, Stanton played a total of 290 games; or just 72.5 per year on average.
He’s missed time with numerous types of injuries, the most common being to his lower body and hamstrings in particular. Unfortunately, his hamstring is exactly what landed him on the IL this time.
When healthy, Stanton has still been an offensive force for New York. He cracked 35 and 31 dingers, knocked in 97 and 78 runs, and gave some lineup protection to the Yankees captain Aaron Judge the last two seasons. Again, however, all when healthy.
This injury stint hurts as Stanton was off to a solid start to the season. He had begun the year hitting .269 with 4 Home Runs and 11 RBI. He had looked much more comfortable in the outfield than we’d seen in some time.
Luckily or maybe not so luckily depending on what Yankees fan you ask, the Yankees have Aaron Hicks and the much-traveled Franchy Cordero to step in and take some of Stanton’s ABs. New York also has Willie Calhoun and ultra utility guy Oswaldo Cabrera to help fill the void.
Considering the frequency at which the Yankees slugger has missed time during his tenure in New York, the Yankees are more prepared than most teams for this situation. Stanton’s absence likely won’t have a huge effect on the team’s success early on. With that said, his bat and potential power are crucial to their postseason hopes so resting him early in the year is probably best.