TAMPA — The only thing louder than the recent hullabaloo regarding Giancarlo Stanton’s ability to open the snack of his choice was a baseball screaming off his bat at 114.3 mph.
The Yankees slugger could not do that at this time last year, when he missed all of spring training to deal with a painful bout of tendinitis in both elbows.
But he looked like himself in his spring debut Tuesday afternoon, going 1-for-2 with a hard single and a walk as he continued to chip away at his preparation for the regular season.
“A nice prototype first day,” said Stanton, who also tagged up from third to score on a sacrifice fly in an 11-1 win over Team Panama at Steinbrenner Field.
The Yankees had eased Stanton into Grapefruit League action, having him get his work in behind the scenes and on the backfields over the first week-plus of games as they continually try to find ways to keep the 36-year-old as healthy and fresh for as long as possible.
He has consistently said that the pain in his elbows is not going away as long as he is playing, but it has gotten to a point where it is now manageable.
That he was able to get into an exhibition on Tuesday showed how “different entirely,” he is feeling this spring compared to last, when he did not play in any spring games for the first time in his career.
The tennis elbows — which date back to the 2024 season — made it impossible for him to do much in the way of baseball activities last camp, when he was relegated to daily treatment before making his season debut on June 16.
Asked Tuesday how many at-bats he needed this spring to feel ready for the regular season, Stanton quipped, “Last year I had about six, so more than that.”
He was slightly undershooting the 12 plate appearances he got on a rehab assignment before joining the Yankees midseason, and while that may have forced him to play catch-up early on, he still found a way to put together one of his most productive regular seasons in a while, batting .273 with a .944 OPS and 24 home runs in 77 games.
“You can’t look at it as, ‘Give me time to settle in,’ or whatever,” Stanton said. “You got to come in and make an impact. I just tried to be impactful right away, not worry about, ‘Hey, I only had this.’ Whatever. No one cares. Get it done.”
That attitude has been typical of Stanton during his time in New York, caring little for excuses and only wanting to talk about the black and white of whether he helped the team.
Of course, that is one of the many reasons why the former NL MVP is highly respected by his teammates.
“He’s just a great leader,” Max Fried said. “He’s someone that is very knowledgeable about the game. You’re not that good for that long just by accident. He has the physical tools but the mental game and the way he approaches it is extremely high-level.”
For that reason, Stanton appreciates that he should have close to a normal buildup this spring if he continues to bounce back well from game action. He likes that he can immediately make adjustments with his timing or his swing from one at-bat to the next in a game, or at least have something tangible to work on in the next day’s batting practice.
Stanton, who is likely to play again Thursday or Friday, has been getting at-bats in live batting practice, or off the Trajekt pitching machine (which mimics the speed and movement of pitches from real major leaguers). Aaron Boone said he could end up getting around 30 to 35 game at-bats if all goes well.
“Nothing, at the end of the day, is like seeing a live arm,” Stanton said. “Just being in a position in a game, fans, that extra — you can’t simulate it. You can visualize, but until you do it, it’s different.”
After striking out on a full count in his first at-bat Tuesday, Stanton smoked a 114.3 mph single — the 12th-hardest ball hit across the majors this spring — off Panama right-hander Erian Rodriguez. The exact exit velocity was not as important to him as simply hitting it hard.
“Just squaring up a heater tells me where I’m at, more than miles per hour,” he said. “Pulling a heater, it’s good. Good timing, good adjustment from a couple swing-throughs or foul-offs with heaters at-bat one and three. There’s still the seesaw that’s normal right now.”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
