One of the biggest stories surrounding the 2018 Yankees has been the early-season struggles of slugger Giancarlo Stanton.
Stanton was New York's most significant acquisition during the offseason. Despite his poor performance at the plate through the first few weeks of the season, Yankees manager Aaron Boone is not worried about the 28-year-old.
"This start really isn't much different from a lot of the starts that Giancarlo has had throughout his career," Boone said during his weekly appearance on The Afternoon Drive. "He's been a little bit of a slow starter. As that weather warms up, and as he finds that good timing, that good rhythm, that good feeling at the plate, eventually pitchers are going to pay a big price."
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Stanton is batting a mere .197 with three home runs, 10 RBI, and 29 strikeouts in 66 at-bats thus far this season.
Although Stanton hasn't shown many signs of bursting out of this current slump, Boone is confident that once he gets his swing going, Stanton will wreak havoc on opposing pitchers across the league.
"Giancarlo is a worker. You've got to appreciate that," Boone said to Carlin, Bart and Maggie. "He's trying to grind through this as best as he can. I'm confident that when it does happen, look out... Once he locks into that feeling, I'm quite confident he'll go on a stretch where he'll really tear up no matter who he's facing."
New York has been hit with the injury bug early on this year, as several players are attempting to work their way back onto the field.
Brandon Drury, who was placed on the disabled list on April 7 after suffering from severe migraine headaches and blurred vision, is coming along in his recovery, according to Boone.
"He looked great today taking batting practice and ground balls. Hopefully that's an encouraging sign that things are starting to turn for him," the Yankees manager said. "I thought he had a great day at work today... He looks a lot better, I think he's feeling a lot better. So hopefully it's the start of him on his way back."
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Drury was not the only Yankee to receive good news today.
Greg Bird underwent ankle surgery to remove a small broken spur on the outside of his right foot on March 27. After only a few weeks, the Yankees skipper said Bird has made great progress towards returning to the team.
"Really good news on the Greg Bird front today," said Boone. "He ran on the field, hit his soft toss and off the tee today, and continued to play catch. He's actually doing really well.
"Hopefully when we head out on the road, he'll probably head down to Tampa and be close to starting some spring games. All has really gone well with Greg Bird, and we feel like he might even be able to potentially beat the timeline we originally had for him."
With the amount of injuries surrounding the Yankees roster, many fans have been calling for the promotion of the organization's top prospect, Gleyber Torres.
Torres has been raking in Triple-A Scranton, hitting .372 through 42 at-bats. Despite the youngster's success, Boone made it clear the team would not rush the 21-year-old infielder's development.
"He's obviously a guy that we regard highly in our organization and feel like he's really close to being able to impact our club," Boone said on Thursday. "But we have our player development and scouting guys that are constantly working that go into helping us make that decision about when the right time is for him."
"Obviously we think he's a guy that's going to impact our club not only on the short-team, but also for a long time to come. We want to make sure that when we go to him, that he's in a really good place and ready to come out and be able to potentially help us permanently."