The New York Yankees have announced that Giancarlo Stanton will begin a rehab assignment with the Somerset Patriots today, as they prepare to receive one of their best power bats in the coming weeks.
Stanton provides a key power bat to the offense at the DH spot, as the slugger will not need much time in Somerset to get rolling with his job only being to hit.
Aaron Boone confirmed that Stanton will only hit in this rehab assignment, as the team has no plans of him playing the outfield this season.
He opened the season on the IL with a double-elbow injury that sidelined him for months, and while the Yankees had kept their mouths mostly shut on the severity of the issue, the expectation was that he’d return in 2025.
Giancarlo Stanton Nearing Return to the Yankees’ Lineup
Last season Giancarlo Stanton hit 27 home runs in 114 games, posting a 116 wRC+ as the primary DH and playing a huge role in their run to the World Series.
Stanton mashed seven home runs in 14 games with a 183 wRC+ in the postseason, hitting some crucial late-game bombs to get the team to their first Fall Classic since 2009.
The Yankees are hoping they can get a version of Giancarlo Stanton mirroring what we saw during the postseason, as the slugger changed to a torpedo bat during the season and exploded at the plate.
It’s unclear whether he will continue to use a torpedo bat, but his success clearly had an effect on his teammates, with Anthony Volpe, Austin Wells, Jazz Chisholm, and Paul Goldschmidt all adopting their own torpedo bats.
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Some Yankees have since gone back to their original bat models, but the bigger question now is how Stanton fill fit into the offense.
Ben Rice has been a revelation for the Yankees this season, Trent Grisham has had a career year, Cody Bellinger provides defense and offense, Jasson Dominguez has been better over the last month, and Paul Goldschmidt is a lefty masher.
There are some uncomfortable conversations to have about who the Yankees should sit in order to get Giancarlo Stanton’s bat into the mix.
It’s a good problem for the Yankees to have; they have the best OPS in baseball (.808) and have a chance to make that unit even better when Big G returns.