The New York Yankees are vexed. They came into spring full of optimism that the injury bug of 2019 was dead. Well, not so much. While the injuries is much smaller in 2020 compared to 2019, seeing Stanton, Judge, Paxton, Hicks, and Severino sidelined by injury is no less frustrating.
Many are complaining about Stanton’s fragility. But if ANYONE bothered to do some basic due diligence, this is par for the course in Stanton’s career.
Two Hurt Seasons, Two Healthy Seasons
Since Stanton came up in 2010, Stanton has had a hard time staying healthy. That is true. But it’s NEVER as bad as people think it is.
He came up in June of 2010, and played about as full a season as a rookie called up in June can play. The next season, he plays 150 games. Which, considering days off players get, is normal. 56 home runs over those two seasons is also numbers any team would take.
With 2012, we saw his first injury-shortened season. Knee soreness around the All-Star break resulted in surgery, forcing him to miss his first All-Star game. Â 2013 saw a hamstring injury that sidelined him for 6.5 weeks.
2014 saw another All-Star season for Stanton, including leading the NL in home runs, slugging, and total bases. And if it weren’t for taking a Mike Fires fastball to the face, he would have played over 150 games. Which, if Yankee fans arguing Judge isn’t injury prone because his wrist broke on a pitch, it means that Stanton wasn’t injury prone up to this point.
2015 was another injury-shortened season due to taking a pitch off the body awkwardly. Taking a pitch in a 9th inning at-bat, he broke his hamate bone (located in the wrist). 2016 saw Stanton winning the home run derby in San Diego that year, but a grade 2 hamstring strain.
Then, 2017 and 2018, Stanton didn’t play in all of 7 games. That’s right, in 2 full seasons, Stanton was rested for 7 games. 2017 saw his MVP season, and 2018 was his first year in pinstripes. And we all know what happened last year.
Now, knowing what is currently happening, and looking THAT in-depth at Stanton’s career, Stanton still has the ability to play more games this season than James Paxton (who has yet to pitch a full season without injury), Aaron Judge (whose injury is still a mystery to everyone), Aaron Hicks (who may miss the whole season depending on how long it takes him to recover from Tommy John), we shouldn’t be this concerned that he might miss the first week or two of the season. This is totally normal for him