Stanton recent home run pace is simply amazing
Given Giancarlo Stanton’s recent home run binge, Derek Jeter may decide baseball’s biggest contract is a bargain.
Stanton signed a record $325 million, 13-year deal in 2014 with the Miami Marlins, and they still owe him about $300 million an eye-popping number even to a former All-Star shortstop for the New York Yankees.
Jeter’s investment group agreed last week to buy the Marlins from Jeffrey Loria, and given the franchise’s history of low revenue and attendance, there’s already speculation the incoming regime may deem Stanton unaffordable.
But lately, he looks like a keeper at any price. Stanton’s knack for moonshots has long made him the sport’s most prodigious slugger, and now he’s also the most prolific.
He homered against San Francisco in the first inning Monday night to increase his season total to 43, most in the majors and a franchise record. He has homered in his past five games, another team record, and in 22 of his past 34.
He would finish the season with 72 homers, one shy of Barry Bonds’ 2001 record, if he continues his pace of the past five weeks.
“It has been amazing to watch,” Manager Don Mattingly said Sunday.
“You know you’re watching something special,” teammate Javy Guerra said. “It’s very weird to see a guy come to the plate, and you think he could homer every time. It’s a lot of fun to be a fan.”
Stanton homered Sunday against Colorado to tie Gary Sheffield’s franchise record for homers in a season, set in 1996. The home run was the 250th for Stanton in 3,407 at-bats, and by that measure, only four players reached the milestone faster Harmon Killebrew, Ralph Kiner, Babe Ruth and Ryan Howard.
“Crazy,” said Stanton, 27. “Those are guys you glorified and put on a pedestal as gods as a kid, and you’re right there on the same plane as them now. So it’s something special.”
This year is special for Stanton because he has remained healthy, missing only two games. He began the week batting .281 with the lowest strikeout rate of his career.
Around the majors
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