New York Yankees: Why Giancarlo Stanton is more than a DH

In 2018, Giancarlo Stanton came to the New York Yankees from Miami. Stanton, in his previous season, led both leagues in home runs and was named the NL MVP.

But he didn’t exactly get off to a great start, struggling a bit in his first season in the Bronx.

Dealing with some injuries, Stanton has also spent a decent amount of games in the DH spot trying to get some time off in the field.  So that brings up the question, is Stanton better as a DH only?

I would say no. I feel like with our line up, the DH spot is more reserved to give players a day off in the field, but still being able to use their bat.  I believe Stanton is valuable in the field, and moving him to the DH only role would be wasting his defensive talent.  I mean, he didn’t win the MVP for anything.

Back in 2017, when his defensive numbers were compared to Judge, they were pretty much in the same ballpark (no pun intended).

What has Stanton meant to the Yankees?

Due to Injuries Stanton played less than 20 games during the 2019 regular season. Since we don’t have much to base off of from last season, let’s look at his 2018 numbers. His Defensive runs saved were five above average (10 in his prior MVP season), his fielding percentage was .992, which was also above the league average, total zone total fielding runs were four runs above average, and only made one error. Those are some pretty good numbers. 

You’re talking about a guy who’s only 30 and played an MVP season just two seasons prior. So I don’t see why you would take a guy like that off the field and stick him on the bench to only use him for his bat.  To me, that’s just wasted talent.