Aaron Boone has said that the hope is for Giancarlo Stanton to be ready for outfield work by the time the Yankees begin interleague games on the road later this month. Stanton himself has also said that he is motivated to be ready for such a role, and free himself from the restraints of a full-time DH.
So, where is Stanton in that ramp-up process? After blasting a three-run home run in Tuesday night’s win, the Yankees clearly need the slugger’s bat in the lineup, but that lineup would have more flexibility if Stanton was able to play the outfield while staying healthy. For Boone, that’s been the challenge, preparing Stanton for a heavier workload on the fly during the season.
“I want to put him in a position to where his workload that he’s had in pregame and different outfield work, we’re at least putting him in the best possible position to go out there and be successful,” Boone told Carton & Roberts. “My hope is in the next couple weeks we’ll be able to pick a spot. We have the Marlins in Miami at the end of July, and my hope is he’s able to play out there then, but I’m hoping a game or two before that as well.”
Boone and the Yankees didn’t have Stanton prepared for a regular outfield role heading into the season, as it looked more and more like the 31-year-old was transitioning into a Nelson Cruz or David Ortiz role with New York after playing just 13 games in the outfield since the start of the 2019 season, and none in 2020.
“It’s just been a little more challenging on the run this year where we didn’t do it in spring training and didn’t do it at the start of the year because we were pretty set up in the outfield and had some depth out there where we didn’t feel we needed to do it,” Boone said. “Then he had the injury that set him back a couple weeks, and that kind of set back the reboot or rebuild of him getting back out there.”
Stanton missed two weeks with a quad strain back in May, the latest in a long line of injuries since joining the Yanks. Those health concerns led the Yanks to bring back Brett Gardner and sign Jay Bruce prior to spring training, but Bruce faltered and eventually retired, Gardner has struggled badly at the plate, while Aaron Hicks was lost for the season. Now, the Yanks have had Miguel Andujar taking regular reps in left field while trying to get Stanton game ready.
“We want to up his workload as far as his outfield work and really ramp it up to a level where now all of a sudden where we go out to a nine-inning game where he’s out there, we want him to be physically as best he can ready for that,” Boone said. “We don’t have the luxury where you’re in spring training ‘OK, you’re gonna play four innings today, then six innings.’ If we put him out there, the reality is he may have to play nine innings out there.”
Boone feels Stanton is ready to go, but won’t rush the issue and risk another injury, something the Yankees can’t afford with Stanton batting .270 with an .860 OPS and 15 home runs this season.
“I feel like he’s ready, I think there’s an endurance factor you’re not factoring in,” Boone said. “The reality is, we need him healthy and his bat in the lineup, and I just don’t want to throw him in the outfield and risk an injury with it when we don’t feel like he’s properly built up.”
Follow WFAN's afternoon team on Twitter: @CartonRoberts, @EvanRobertsWFAN, @TommyLugauer, and @CMacWFAN
Follow WFAN on Social Media
Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube | Twitch
