Heading into Tuesday’s slate of games, the Yankees are 43-27. That is good for first place in the American League East and best record in the AL.
As a team, they’ve scored 358 runs this season. That ranks sixth in MLB. Their OPS of .763 ranks second to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
They have managed this despite not having their feared designated hitterGiancarlo Stanton in the lineup for most of the season. The 36-year-old injured his calf on April 24 in a game against the Houston Astros.
To that point, Stanton had played in 24 of the Yankees’ 26 games. He compiled a slash line of .256/.302/.422, with an OPS of .724. He managed three home runs and 14 RBIs.
© Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images
The injury was diagnosed as a low-grade calf strain, something that can take anywhere from two to four weeks for athletes to recover from.
Now in mid-June, it appears that Stanton has made minimal progress in his rehab. In fact, things seem to be getting worse for the slugger.
Gary Phillips of NY Daily News Sports reported on Tuesday that he had suffered a setback. “Giancarlo Stanton ‘reinjured’ his calf and is gonna have a light week of activity, per Aaron Boone.”
The news comes at a bad time, as the club is now down both Aaron Judge and Trent Grisham in the outfield due to various ailments.
During Stanton’s absence, the Yankees have been using their duo of first basemen at DH. Ben Rice and Paul Goldschmidt have been fantastic since Stanton went on the injured list.
With this DH/1B platoon seemingly set in stone, a Stanton return at this time would have likely placed him back in the outfield. That is no longer feasible with the recent news. The team will have to play with what it has for the next few weeks.
The outfield options at the big-league level include Cody Bellinger, Spencer Jones, Jasson Domínguez, Max Schuemann, Amed Rosario, José Caballero and Jazz Chisholm Jr. Only Bellinger and Jones are listed as outfielders, the rest are usually infielders with Domínguez listed at DH.
Boone and the Yankees will have to get creative to make sure the position group can hold its own during this tough stretch.
