New York Post

Struggling Stanton won’t change stance

- By DAN MARTIN

Last June, Giancarlo Stanton revamped his swing, adopting a closed stance that resulted in almost immediate success in Miami.

Stanton went from a home run every 14.6 plate appearance­s before June 19 to a homer every 9.8 plate appearance­s following the change.

Stanton is off to a rough start with the Yankees, but he said he wouldn’t undergo any significan­t alteration­s to his wing or approach this season.

“It’s too much of an adjustment to make in the middle of a season,’’ Stanton told The Post before going 1-for-2 with a walk and a sacrifice fly in Wednesday’s 5-3 win over the Astros.

Reminded he made the change during the middle part of last year, Stanton said he is already dealing with a different environmen­t in The Bronx and a new league.

“To reverse everything now

wouldn’t be good,’’ Stanton said. “Not with all the other new things around and the new surroundin­gs.”

Instead, he and the Yankees will have to hope minor adjustment­s will be enough to make a difference.

“I’ve made tweaks and I feel like I’ve made some progress, but I take some steps forward and then some steps back,” Stanton said. “That’s kind of where I am right now. I’m working on little tweaks here and there.”

He has hit lefties well. Since April 27, Stanton is 15-for-33 with two doubles and five homers versus southpaws, but overall, he hasn’t approached the production expected when he was acquired from the Marlins in December.

The fact the Yankees have played well in spite of Stanton’s rough first two months has eased some of Stan-

ton’s concerns, but he isn’t pleased with how his season has gone so far.

“There’s absolutely frustratio­n,” Stanton said. “But the winning helps. Even with that, though, I still need to do more and will do more. … It’s not showing on the field, but I still feel like I’m getting there.”

Miguel Andujar collided with Houston’s Yuli Gurriel trying to make a play at third in the seventh, but remained in the game after being looked at by the training staff.

Andujar said he got hit in the left side of his head, but was OK and Aaron Boone added: “I don’t think it’s anything big.”

Aaron Hicks was hitless in 15 atbats before a sixth-inning double, but Boone said he still values what he brings to the team.

“When he’s not getting hits, he’s getting on base 35 percent of the

time,’’ Boone said. “And he’s a real center fielder that can really legitimate­ly play center field. He has power and in a lot of ways is still a young player who’s still developing and is highly productive.”

That’s Boone’s polite way of saying you shouldn’t expect to see Clint Frazier back in The Bronx anytime soon, regardless of how well he hits with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

“[Frazier] continues to grow and establish himself as a big part of our future,’’ Boone said. “Aaron is a really good player for us and plays a premium defensive position. You can’t just fire anyone out in center field.’’

Boone said Luis Severino would start one of the games of the doublehead­er on Monday in Detroit and the team was discussing who would pitch the other game. Boone said he preferred to have a starter as opposed to using the game as a bullpen day.

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