STANTON, YANKEES TARGETING SEPTEMBER RETURN
NEW YORK (AP) >> Giancarlo Stanton wants to return from his knee injury in time to finetune that powerful swing for October.
Sidelined nearly all season, the New York Yankees slugger is hitting indoors and throwing as he rehabs from a sprained right knee that’s been slow to heal since he got hurt June 25. The next step will be jogging and running outside before ramping up baseball activities.
General manager Brian Cashman originally targeted August but now says the AL East leaders hope to get Stanton back sometime in September.
“Once I start moving around, just see how it bounces back. But I do want to have a few weeks of at-bats before October, for sure,” Stanton said Thursday in his first comments to reporters in a while. “I want to be out there for a couple weeks, just the game routine and having whatever amount of at-bats I can.”
The 2017 NL MVP said he’s confident he’ll return to health this season but has no particular date in mind.
“I’m doing everything I can to get there, so that’s what this process is and that’s what I’m working for,” he explained.
“The deadline is when my knee is ready to play major league games,” Stanton added. “So if something happens to that, then I can always get atbats, non-big league at-bats, but by close to big league pitching, to catch me up if need be. But that is the deadline — not any rush past when my knee is ready.”
Stanton strained his left biceps on March 31 in his third game of the season, strained a shoulder and calf during his rehabilitation and returned