First appeared on MLBbro.com 8.21.23
Injuries have been as much of a part of Giancarlo Stanton’s career as towering home runs, maybe even moreso.
That wasn’t a problem when Stanton was toiling in anonymity for the Miami Marlins. However, since he arrived in The Bronx in 2018, Giancarlo Stanton’s health, or lack thereof, has been what has defined his career with the New York Yankees.
This season, everything has bottomed out for Stanton. His batting average has dropped below .200. He’s struck out to end almost 30 percent of his at-bats. His career-low on-base percentage would be a solid batting average (.282), but that’s about it.
Yankee fans seem to have lost their patience with Stanton as well. The patience for Stanton actually was never really there from his first game in pinstripes.
In Saturday’s loss to the hated Boston Red Sox, Stanton struck out three times. When he did reach base on a walk, he was picked off on a routine pop up. The faithful showed their displeasure by raining boos down upon the towering slugger.
Giancarlo Stanton Struggling
Over his past seven games, all Yankee losses, Giancarlo Stanton is 2-for-21 with 12 strikeouts and one RBI. This season, he only has 13 multi-hit games compared to 23 games with at least two strikeouts.
What exactly is Stanton’s future in New York? On the surface, it seems as cloudy as the rest of the franchise’s.
Yankees Out Of Playoff Contention?
After being considered one of the favorites to win both the American League and the World Series, the Yankees season seems to be essentially over with less than 40 games to play and New York currently holding down fifth place in the AL East.
Should the Yankees finish below .500, it would be the first time that’s happened in three decades. They haven’t finished in last place in the division since the AL changed formats in 1994.
While all of this isn’t entirely the fault of Giancarlo Stanton, he’s become a symbol of the Yankees’ inability to get back to the World Series or capture that elusive 28th World Series trophy.
He’s only driven in 100 RBI once for the Yankees and appeared in more than 130 games twice.
500 Homer Club
It wasn’t that long ago that Giancarlo Stanton seemed like a lock to become a member of the 500-home run club, with the potential of joining the greatest power hitters in Major League Baseball’s history.
Now?
At 33 years of age, with four years and $118 million left on his contact ($20M to be paid by the Marlins), it’s hard to imagine Stanton’s health improving or his production returning to the MVP-levels of 2017. There’s no trade partner out there to take on the bloated contact of an aging and declining slugger.
He also doesn’t add value as a fielder or baserunner.
It’s been an incredible fall from grace for a former five-time All-Star, All-Star Game MVP, and National League MVP.
So, it appears that the Yankees and Stanton are stuck with each other with only the hope that Giancarlo Stanton can stay healthy and start hitting again.
Even with all evidence pointing to the contrary.