GREAT TIMING
Stanton returns with booming double in 1st at-bat since June
As far as opportune timing goes, Giancarlo Stanton’s return to the Yankees’ lineup is right on schedule.
Shortly after the Yankees reinstated the slugger from the 60-day injured list, Stanton hit fifth and started in left field during Wednesday night’s 3-2 loss to the Angels at Yankee Stadium.
The 29-year-old outfielder didn’t miss a beat in his first at-bat in nearly three months, stroking a leadoff double to deep left-center field in the second inning.
Manager Aaron Boone told reporters before the game he planned to remove Stanton — who had been sidelined since June 25 with a strained posterior cruciate ligament in his right knee — after a handful of at-bats. He followed through when he replaced Stanton with Tyler Wade in the top of the seventh following his third trip to the plate.
“[It was] encouraging,” Boone said of Stanton. “I only planned on going four, maybe five innings there, but he was doing well and we kind of talked through it there in that fifth [saying], ‘ You want to go back out for the sixth and get that last atbat?’ And he did.
“[He] got off some good swings, obviously the double, smoked the ball back up the middle. Made a great throw to the plate early. ... I thought he was moving [well] on the bases.”
Stanton, who is in the eighth year of his $325 million deal he signed with the Marlins, finished 1-for-3 with the double and a strikeout.
He looked mobile and comfortable as he rounded the bases, an encouraging sign considering the multitude of injuries Stanton suffered earlier in the season, before his knee injury.
Boone said the next step will be to see how Stanton feels in the morning. But his plan is to slot him in as the designated hitter for Thursday’s series finale.
“For not being out there for a few months, I felt good in the box and moved around pretty well in the outfield,” Stanton said. “It was a good start.”
It was Stanton’s ninth start in the field since he began rehabbing his right knee. Before the knee injury, Stanton battled strains in his left biceps, left shoulder and left calf, which combined to sideline him for nearly 2 ¹/2 months after he had played the first three games of the season.
Stanton had just 31 at-bats this season before Wednesday. He had recorded nine hits, including a double and a home run, with seven RBIs and four runs in nine games.
His return comes just as the Yankees’ outfield is in serious need of reinforcement following a slew of injuries. With Aaron Hicks and, most recently, Mike Tauchman out, his return gives the Yankees depth in the outfield.
Injured sluggers Edwin Encarnacion (oblique) and Gary Sanchez (groin) are working their way back, so Stanton’s big bat will certainly help. Boone said he expects Encarnacion to be an option before the regular season is over, with Sanchez also a possibility to return depending on how he continues to progress.