Giancarlo Stanton has quietly picked up a hit in each of his last six games, but those hits have gone relatively unnoticed because of how notable his recent outs have been.
The Yankee slugger went 4-for-15 in New York’s series loss to the Red Sox this past weekend, and struck out six times. The strikeouts opened eyes because of just how lost Stanton appeared to be on some of his swings. Stanton fanned on a pitch that fell well short of home plate in Thursday’s series opener, and it wasn’t the last.
But Stanton’s hot streaks, which the Yankees saw earlier in this season and certainly in last year’s postseason, mean these temporary swoons have to be waited out.
“Giancarlo’s a unique player in that even at times where he’s going really well, some of his outs or swings don’t look real good, even when he’s going really well,” Aaron Boone told Carton and Roberts on Tuesday. “I think he’s going through a stretch the last week or 10 days where he’s not totally locked in at the plate, even though he was able to scratch some knocks out this weekend.”
Stanton is batting just .226 with a .685 OPS over his last 16 games, and his strikeouts in that span put him on pace to record 223 punchouts over a 162-game span, which would easily be the highest mark of his career. Of course, that pace won’t continue, but the Yankees need him to find his way back into another hot streak, especially with the Yanks looking at a lot of ground to cover in the division, which is quickly slipping out of reach.
“Hopefully we can get him back on track to get into that mode, where when he gets really rolling, he’s a guy that can carry you,” Boone said. “We’re just trying to get him back to that point, get him balanced and in strong hitting positions over and over again, and hopefully, coming out of the off day, he can get it rolling for us.”
As for Stanton’s defense, which wound up not appearing in Boston despite Boone saying there was a “good chance” Stanton would make his first outfield appearance since 2019, that could come in a game during this week’s series in Tampa, and Boone said Stanton could likely see two games in the outfield this weekend when the Bombers are in Miami.
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