TAMPA, Fla. — New York Yankees power hitter Giancarlo Stanton believes something crucial is missing from his time in the Bronx.
“It’s definitely incomplete,” the veteran slugger told reporters on Tuesday as he prepares for his ninth campaign wearing pinstripes. “The point of being a Yankee is being a champion.”
At 36 years old, Stanton is beginning the last two guaranteed years of the massive 13-year, $325 million deal he originally inked with Miami. Despite spending time on the injured list for seven straight seasons, he remains a powerful offensive weapon when available.
Following a delayed start to 2024 due to elbow tendon inflammation that sidelined him for the team’s opening 70 contests, Stanton posted a .273 batting average alongside 24 home runs, 66 RBIs and a .944 OPS across 77 appearances.
The ongoing elbow issues demand continuous care and attention.
“I’m good. Ready to go,” Stanton insisted. “As I said before, it’s not going anywhere. It’s always going to be maintenance, but it didn’t hinder me from any work.”
He described his training regimen as “a lot of hold, strengthening, make sure I’m able to maintain holding and swinging with power and throwing.”
The five-time All-Star and 2017 National League MVP holds a .258 career batting average with 453 home runs — leading all current players — plus 1,169 RBIs over 16 major league campaigns. He remains a crucial piece of New York’s offensive puzzle.
“With us over the last couple of years (having) become more and more left-handed, his presence in the middle is just really big,” Yankees skipper Aaron Boone explained. “It’s like having that guy lingering there, that’s Big G in the middle.”
While Stanton launched 38 homers and drove in 100 runs during his debut 2018 season in New York, injuries forced him to miss 266 of 708 possible games over the following five years. His ailments included strains to his right biceps, right knee, left hamstring twice, and left quadriceps, plus right ankle inflammation and left Achilles tendinitis.
Appearing noticeably leaner in 2024, he reduced his missed time to just 28 games due to a left hamstring strain. Stanton concluded the regular season with 27 homers and 72 RBIs in 114 games, then contributed seven homers and 16 RBIs during 14 playoff contests.
Personal milestones aren’t occupying his thoughts.
“Numbers like the next one and the next one is good for now,” he stated. “Those numbers, 500 or what not, is the same as we’re going to win the World Series right now. You got each day to do work and prove and do something positive.”
The Yankees owe Stanton $64 million in guaranteed compensation: $29 million this season, $25 million in 2027, and a $10 million buyout for a $25 million club option in 2028. Miami helps offset costs by paying New York $30 million total: $5 million each July 1 and October 1 from 2026 through 2028.
For luxury tax calculations, Stanton counts as $25 million against the Yankees’ payroll, and with New York likely facing the maximum 110% tax rate, he adds $27.5 million to their tax obligations.
Fellow players seek Stanton’s brief advice before their at-bats.
“He just processes things really well and really gains from the things he sees: the experience, the times he faces a pitcher, how he processes that and puts it to use in future at-bats against guys,” Boone noted. “I think he knows himself incredibly well as a hitter, but his presence with just the makeup of our club is huge.”
Meanwhile, shortstop Anthony Volpe won’t be available for the March 25 season opener but expects to return sometime in April after October 14 surgery to fix his left shoulder labrum.
Volpe began his hitting progression Monday with dry swings — without using a ball — and anticipates soon advancing to tee work and soft toss drills.
“My body’s ready to go defensively and running, so the hitting will be what we work through next, and judging on how everything’s gone so far, I’m just excited,” he said.
The shoulder injury occurred May 3, though Volpe returned to action two days afterward and struggled throughout much of the season. After receiving two cortisone injections, he batted .212 with 19 homers and a career-best 72 RBIs. He managed just one hit in 15 at-bats with 11 strikeouts during the AL Division Series defeat to Toronto, making outs in his final 13 plate appearances.
Post-MRI results revealed Volpe’s surgery would be more complex than initially anticipated.
“When I woke up from the surgery and we went through everything, we kind of had an idea of what the best case and what the worst case and everything in between would have been, so I wasn’t shocked,” he explained. “I was just more excited and in pain and motivated.”
Reflecting on the aftermath, his left shoulder and side never felt comparable to his right following the injury. Manager Boone indicated after the procedure that Volpe could resume hitting within four months but couldn’t dive on the shoulder for six months.
“The first half rehabbing was tough. It felt like rock bottom as far as physically,” Volpe recalled. “Probably at the turn of the New Year is when I really started to feel good and I started to do stuff, baseball activity.”
