Stanton eager to make his Bronx debut
It didn’t take long for Giancarlo Stanton to find out that the payroll isn’t the only difference between The Bronx and Miami.
The Yankees’ home opener was postponed due to snow on Monday, so Stanton will have to wait another day to take the field at Yankee Stadium, where he has played just two games in his career.
But like just about everyone else, Stanton is confident his swing will do well in the homerfriendly park.
“I think it fits nice,” Stanton said with a grin in front of his new locker in the corner of the Yankees’ clubhouse.
And he’s eagerly anticipating his New York debut.
“It’s gonna be fun,” Stanton said. “The atmosphere and hitting here. … I’m looking forward to it.”
The two games Stanton played in The Bronx were in 2015, with the Yankees winning each game.
On June 17, Stanton went 0for-4 with a pair of strikeouts — one against Michael Pineda and another against Dellin Betances. The next day, Stanton had two hits, including a homer to left off CC Sabathia.
Stanton didn’t recall any specifics about how he was treated by The Bronx faithful, but he said the fans didn’t give him a hard time.
And despite the losses, he seemed impressed with the surroundings.
“I wasn’t able to go to the [previous] one, but from photos and videos, it looked exactly the same, so that was pretty cool,” Stanton said. “Just the people yelling and screaming at BP, already ready to go at 4 p.m. It felt how the old guys explained it was here and how Shea [Stadium] was.”
He’ll no doubt get a boisterous reaction on Tuesday, when the Yankees are scheduled to make up Monday’s game.
Stanton is expected to be back in left field, where he played on Sunday at Rogers Centre in Toronto due to the injuries to Aaron Hicks and Billy McKinney that have left the Yankees shorthanded in the outfield. He looked fine there against the Blue Jays and said his position will be decided on a “day-to-day” basis until Jacoby Ellsbury returns.
But the Yankees didn’t trade for Stanton for his glove — and he’s not the only one anxiously awaiting what he’ll do in his new home.
“I think this ballpark is set up for him and hopefully we’ll just continue to encourage the approach we’ve seen from him,” Aaron Boone said of Stanton, who hit two homers on Opening Day, but then went 1-for-9 with four walks the rest of the series. “[He’s] really trying to work the ball the other way and back through the middle with that great power.’’
Which should play well at the Stadium.
“With a lot of our guys — and certainly Giancarlo and Aaron [Judge] — their ability to even mis-hit the ball and still hit the ball out to all fields is a real luxury as a player and why they’re the impact players that they are,’’ Boone said. “I think there’s a comfort level as a hitter here, especially as a right-handed hitter, when you know you don’t have to get the best of it to drive it out the other way. … You’re allowed to react a split second later knowing that you can drive the ball the other way [and] it allows you to … just see the ball a little bit longer than somebody that doesn’t.”