Giancarlo Stanton played another smooth six innings in right field on Tuesday, and the slugger is hoping for more as the Yankees lineup inches closer towards being at full strength.
Both Stanton and Luke Voit homered in Tuesday’s nightcap of a doubleheader sweep against the Red Sox, and both will have to make adjustments in terms of playing time once Anthony Rizzo returns to the fold. Rizzo, who was swinging a red-hot bat upon his arrival from the Cubs, is expected back in the coming days from the COVID-19 IL, which would bump Voit off of first base and into a DH role.
That means Stanton, who has mainly served as a DH since the stretch run of the 2018 season, will have to continue to grow comfortable with a regular outfield role, something he says has gone as well as could be expected so far since dusting off his outfield glove in late July.
“It’s been fun,” Stanton said. “It’s been good getting back into that routine, especially that this team is in a better spot, in my opinion, when I’m out there. Just our offensive flexibility if I can be out there more often.”
Stanton has been mainly healthy all season, and fortunately for the Yankees, that has continued since his move into an outfield role. If he can continue that, it would help the Yanks optimize their lineup with Voit at DH, Rizzo at first, and an outfield of Stanton, Aaron Judge, and Joey Gallo.
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“That’s where me being in the outfield comes into play,” Stanton said. “We’re dangerous all around, and that just makes us even more.”
Stanton’s home run on Tuesday night helped raise his season OPS to .820, as he has put together a productive season that has seen him appear in 99 games, his most since 2018. Putting him back into the outfield could have theoretically put his current durability at risk, but so far, all has gone well, and if that continues, the Yankees will have the deep and stacked lineup they envisioned before the season began.
“The games that I’ve been out there, the majority of them, we’ve been up, so it’s been good to ease into them. started with six innings, then eight, then seven back and forth, played the nine, so it’s been good,” Stanton said. “The flexibility with that has been perfect. Just looking forward to getting back out there and doing more.”
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