Ross Stripling blew his top at the expense of teammate Joe Panik on Wednesdya night, when Panik charged a slow ground ball from Giancarlo Stanton in the sixth inning, barehanded and fired wide to allow Stanton to reach.
Stipling threw his arms up in frustration and shouted at Panik, who later did not come to the mound during a mound visit for Stripling.
After the game, which Toronto lost to the Yankees, Stripling was apologetic and expressed his embarrassment for the incident, adding that part of his frustration was due to who was running to first base.
“I saw when it kind of jammed Stanton and it was rolling, he didn’t run out of the box,” Stripling said. “If you’ve been watching him all year, he doesn’t really run down the line and I’m just screaming at Joe, ‘He’s not running, he’s not running.’”
Yankees manager Aaron Boone didn’t hear the comments until he was told about it on his weekly segment with Carton & Roberts, but strongly supported Stanton’s effort when running out grounders.
“Then he doesn’t know,” Boone said of Panik’s comments about Stanton’s hustle. “He thinks he knows, but he’s wrong. He definitely runs at like an 80 percent clip on ground balls…by design, because we don’t want him tweaking things…he gets into his really good running form where it’s about 80 percent, and that’s what he does down the line.”
Some might want to see Stanton run 100 percent down the line, but Boone said by sacrificing speed, Stanton essentially gains some back by maximizing his running form, which also is done to help decrease injury risk.
“I want his running form to be efficient so he’s moving as quickly as he can,” Boone said. “I think a lot of times you’ll hear sprinters talking about getting into that 80-90 percent mode to where they’re really efficient with their movement, and it’s something Giancarlo has worked on over the last couple years as he’s dealt with things, about being better with his running form…and hopefully that leads to, over time, more health.”
Stanton was on the IL earlier this season with a quad strain and has dealt with multiple lower body injuries in his Yankee tenure, making his running form a focus in recent years. The Yankees likely prefer 80 percent speed from Stanton instead of just 80 games played or less in a season due to injuries, which have followed the slugger around since arriving in 2018.
“I also think there’s something to the 80 percent,” Boone said. “Sometimes trying a little less puts you into a better running form to where you’re actually moving better than when you’re squeezing and running real hard, you kind of lose a little form. Any time he’s hitting a ground ball, I want him running into that really good gate where he’s moving, but under control.”
Boone has seen plenty of pitchers outwardly express their frustration on the mound, but felt Stripling’s direct shouts toward Panik on the field “crossed the line,” and clearly wasn’t happy about his comments toward Stanton, who is responsible for the first home run Stripling allowed in his career, and the two were the source of a benches-clearing brawl in Los Angeles when Stripling, then of the Dodgers, threw behind Stanton, then on the Marlins.
“He should probably have worried more about making amends on his side and not embarrassing a teammate,” Boone said.
Listen to Boone’s full interview with Carton & Roberts below!
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