It has been nearly three months since Giancarlo Stanton suffered a calf strain that the Yankees called “low grade.”
It has been 5 ¹/₂ weeks since the Yankees acknowledged Stanton had suffered a setback while running the bases and seemingly on the precipice of a return, which general manager Brian Cashman later called “a whole new injury” to his calf.
As of Monday, the Yankees still did not have any clarity regarding a timeline for a return or rehab assignment or when Stanton will run the bases again.
“I do know he’s continuing the running progression; it’s going pretty well,” manager Aaron Boone said before opening a series in The Bronx against the Pirates. “But I don’t have a timeline.”
Little is known publicly about the status of Stanton, who Boone said was “moving again with more intensity and hitting against [velocity] again” way back on June 29.
Since then, the Yankees have said Stanton has continued a running progression but offered little detail otherwise.
The loss of Aaron Judge for an indefinite period has shined more light on Stanton because the club has not been able to hit without the pair of sluggers.
Stanton played just 24 games this season before going down.
He had launched three homers while posting a .724 OPS.
The Yankees have signed all 20 of their draft picks.
Their first two selections — Arkansas’ Hunter Dietz and Sean Duncan, out of a high school in Canada — are lefty starters.
The other five pitchers they selected are righties.
They also announced Luke Pettitte as a two-way player, a righty pitcher and first baseman.
Andy’s son had been a righty pitcher and slugger at Dallas Baptist.
Otherwise, they selected six infielders, four outfielders, one catcher and one utility player.
The backup catcher for Pittsburgh on Monday was Rafael Flores, whom the Yankees signed as an undrafted free agent in 2022.
He rose through a system that is well regarded for developing catchers and touched Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre last season.
Flores was dealt to the Pirates in the trade that brought David Bednar to The Bronx.
He debuted briefly in June and was called up again earlier this month, showing promise (1.167 OPS) in his early days.
“I really enjoyed Rafa,” Boone said. “We had him in camp [in 2025], before we ended up trading him, and I really liked him, liked his upside. He had a joy for the game that was fun to be around. You could tell he loved the game.”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
