New York Yankees slugger Giancarlo Stanton exited Saturday’s win over the Atlanta Braves (NY 7, ATL 3) with left hamstring tightness, the team announced. He is scheduled to undergo imaging Sunday. Stanton was seen wincing as he rounded third base scoring on a double in the fourth inning. He was removed for a pinch-hitter in his next at-bat.
“Hopefully it’s not too significant,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said after the game (via NJ.com). Here’s the play when Stanton appeared to get hurt:
Stanton, 34, is having a bounceback season. He went 1-for-2 with a double before exiting Saturday’s game and is hitting .246/.302/.492 with 18 home runs on the season. That’s a big improvement from last year’s .191/.275/.420 batting line.
Over the winter, Yankees GM Brian Cashman caught some heat when he said Stanton is “injury prone” and that getting hurt “seems to be part of his game.” It is true, unfortunately. Injuries, mostly lower-body muscle pulls, limited Stanton to 391 of 708 possible regular-season games from 2019-23, or 55%. Stanton has played in 69 of New York’s 79 games this season.
If Stanton misses time, it’s unclear whom the Yankees would summon from Triple-A to replace him. Top prospect Jasson Domínguez would have been the obvious candidate, but he just went down with a significant oblique strain. Fellow outfield prospect Everson Pereira had season-ending elbow surgery earlier this month as well.
The Yankees could install two-time Gold Glove Trent Grisham in center field, then have Aaron Judge and Juan Soto split their time in right field and at DH. New York is already without Anthony Rizzo, who has a broken bone in his arm, and they have gotten subpar production from second and third base all year. Losing Stanton would be a big blow.
Saturday’s snapped a three-game losing streak and improved the Yankees to an MLB-best 52-27. The Braves are 42-32 and seven games back in the NL East.
