Giancarlo Stanton was a force to be reckoned with during the Yankees’ World Series run in 2024. When he is locked in, he’s as entertaining and terrifying as almost any hitter in baseball, and it was good to see that phenomenon under the brightest lights last season. Entering his age-35 season, Big G was still penciled in as a vital part of the 2025 Yankees lineup.
That idea became much murkier as spring training got underway, initially with him leaving camp for an issue “private in nature,” and now being confirmed to begin the regular season on the injured list. When he’s right, he is a cog in the Yankees lineup, but the injury bug has bitten once again, leaving the early part of the upcoming season in question, if not more.
2024 statistics: 114 games, 459 plate appearances, .233/.298/.475, 27 HR, 72 RBI, 116 wRC+, 8.3 BB%, 31.2 K%, 0.8 fWAR
2025 ZiPS DC projections: 97 games, 420 plate appearances, .228/.305/.459, 24 HR, 66 RBI, 114 wRC+, 9.5 BB%, 29.8 K%, 1.0 fWAR
On the surface, prior to the troubling injury news, there was evidence for some modest Giancarlo Stanton optimism. He seemed to put the brutal 2023 season behind him, and his last appearance was a 14-game postseason where he hit seven homers, boasted a 183 wRC+ and captured the ALCS MVP award. He looked like the Giancarlo of old.
His regular season was solid as well, running into plenty of homers, playing in his most games since 2021, and maintaining a 116 wRC+. All standards that seem to be in the realm of what we should expect from the aging slugger, but valuable nonetheless.
Of course, there are some shadows of concern with Stanton as well. He turned 35-years-old back in November, and despite the slight renaissance, 2024 saw his worst walk and strikeout rates in any 100-game season for the slugger. Considering all of this, Stanton still feels like someone whose importance and skill transcends on-paper concepts — a lineup with him in it (particularly when he’s locked in) is just a different one.
His projections still look solid for next season, and they feel about right. He will run into homers no matter how much he plays, and those discipline rates should stabilize a little bit, likely increasingly so as his time on the field increases. Realistically, outside of the aforementioned 2023 season when he hit just .191 with a 86 wRC+ as a sub-replacement level player, Stanton has never been a bad hitter over the course of his 15-year career.
The real concern in the present moment, is not how he’ll play, but when. Toward the end of February, it came out that Giancarlo Stanton had headed back to New York for a somewhat mysterious injury, or at least something that was described as “private in nature.” It has more recently been reported by Bryan Hoch that the Yankees DH has been unable to swing a bat since the middle of January because of pain in both of his elbows. He received PRP injections in both elbows, and it is now confirmed that he will begin the 2025 season on the injured list.
Aaron Boone is reportedly somewhat optimistic about the situation, stating he feels they’ll “get to a good spot with this.” There’s not a lot of situations where a manager wouldn’t speak like this, but it’s better than outright negativity. The hopefully-not-long-term issue likely opens some opportunities for Trent Grisham, with DJ LeMahieu going down for some time as well. Grisham could get some play with his excellent defense in the outfield, while the Yankees’ regulars could rotate in the DH spot. There are also external options out there, as the Yanks have reportedly made contact with free agent J.D. Martinez.
For right now, the early part of the 2025 season, if not more, is a big question mark for Giancarlo Stanton. He has been vital to this lineup since his arrival for the 2018 season, and the Yankees will be eager to get him back, but when that happens is the biggest question at this juncture.