The beginning of Giancarlo Stanton’s time in the Bronx hasn’t gone as planned. Here’s a timeline of the frustration.
When the New York Yankees traded for Giancarlo Stanton in December of 2017, the baseball world was put on notice.
The Yankees were set to roll out a lineup of Stanton, Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez and Gleyber Torres for the next decade. However, Yankee fans haven’t gotten anything close to the production from Stanton that they hoped he’d bring upon arrival.
Here’s a timeline of Stanton’s first two years in Pinstripes.
December 9th, 2017: Yankees acquire Stanton from the Miami Marlins
In his first major move as president of the Miami Marlins, former Yankee Derek Jeter traded his best player to his former squad.
The Yankees acquired Stanton in exchange for starting second basemen Starlin Castro and prospects Jorge Guzman and Jose Devers.
Many found this a price far too low for a player coming off a season where he was named NL MVP after mashing 59 home runs. Nonetheless, a power tandem of Judge and Stanton was official in the Bronx.
March 28th, 2018: Stanton starts his Yankee carer with a bang
In his first regular-season game as a Yankee, it did not appear the Bombers would ever have a Giancarlo Stanton problem.
Stanton mashed two home runs and finished the day with three hits and four RBI’s leading the Yankees to their first opening day victory since 2011.
More importantly, Stanton had Yankee fans salivating at his future in the Bronx.
April 2018: Stanton Slumps
After leading the Yankees to an opening day victory, Stanton went onto slump his way through his first full month in Pinstripes.
Stanton batted .218 with just three home runs and 11 RBI’s and had Yankees fans booing him in his new home.
July 2018: Back on track
After an up and down first half that kept Stanton from making the all-star team for just the second time since 2014, the slugger caught fire in July.
Stanton slashed .323/.360/515 with five home runs and 18 RBI’s to help the Yankees keep pace with the first-place Red Sox.
Postseason 2018: A woeful postseason debut
Stanton finished his first regular season as a Yankee with a slash line of .266/343/.509 with 38 home runs and 100 RBI’s, which was subpar after an MVP 2017 season.
In his first carer trip to the postseason, however, Stanton struggled mightily. Stanton hit just one home run, which came in the Wild Card game victory over Oakland.
All in all he hit just .238 with one RBI that came after his solo home run. Stanton’s struggles were one of the many factors that led to a first-round exit for the Yankees who lost in four games to the eventual world champion Red Sox in the ALDS.
April 1st, 2019: Bicep Strain
After losing a three game series to the Baltimore Orioles to open the 2019 season the Yankees suffered another loss as Stanton was placed on the injured list with a bicep strain.
It appeared Stanton wouldn’t miss more than a week or so but instead he ended up not returning to the Yankees lineup until June 18th as he became among the first of several Bombers to suffer serious injuries in 2019.
June 26th: Knee Sprain
Just eight days and six games after returning from his bicep injury Stanton landed back on the IL after suffering a knee sprain.
This time Stanton was expected to miss a long period of time and did just that as he did not return until September 18th.
2019 ALCS Game One: A Huge Homer
Stanton returned to play nine of the Yankees final regular season games finishing the year with just 18 games played.
However he did play all three games of the Yankees ALDS sweep of the Twins and then game one of the ALCS which saw him crush a solo home run to help guide the Bombers to a 7-0 victory in Houston.
STANTON SMASH 💪@Yankees take a 3-0 lead!!
📺 LIVE on FOX pic.twitter.com/jw9WUo5PbU
— FOX Sports (@FOXSports) October 13, 2019
2019 ALCS Game Two: Strained Right Quadriceps
Just when it seemed Stanton was all the way back the injury bug struck again.
The Yankees slugger was held out of games two and three with a strained right quad and New York’s offense struggled to pick up the pieces scoring a combined three runs without him in the lineup and suffering losses in both games.