Feb. 17 (UPI) — Giancarlo Stanton is dealing with significant pain in both of his elbows and is not sure if he will be ready for the New York Yankees’ opening day game March 27 with the Milwaukee Brewers, he told reporters Monday.
Stanton made the comments on the first day the full Yankees roster reported to spring training in Tampa, Fla. They came a day after manager Aaron Boone told reporters that he wasn’t going to “put any timeline” on Stanton’s recovery.
“There’s always a pain level there,” Stanton said.
Stanton played through the injuries last season, when he experienced a second-half skid. He hit .239 with 17 home runs and 40 RBIs through his fist 63 games. He hit .226 with 10 homers and 32 RBIs after the All-Star break, including a .194 average in September.
Stanton rebounded by hitting .273 with seven home runs and 16 RBIs in 14 postseason appearances, but admitted he played through pain during the Yankees’ trip to the World Series.
“He was doing stuff [this off-season] and then he kind of shut down and got treatments,” Boone said Sunday. “It’s just something we don’t want to rush, if we can get to a really good spot and know we’re going to have to probably deal with some maintenance with it throughout the year.
“We don’t want to force anything too early.”
Stanton hasn’t swung a bat in 3 to 4 weeks and called his pain level “very high.”
“I was dealing with it last year, so it was a manageable thing,” Stanton said, according to MLB.com. “We’ll just give it as much time as possible before we’ve got to get rolling for a full year here.”
Stanton, 35, has been on the injured list at least once every season since 2018. The five-time All-Star hit .212 with 82 home runs and 210 RBIs over 325 games over the last three seasons.
He is under contract through 2027, but his pact includes a club option in 2028. Stanton is to make $32 million this season.
Aaron Judge and Cody Bellinger are among several players who could fill in for Stanton in the designated hitter slot, should the slugger miss time.
The Yankees will host the Tampa Bay Rays in their spring training opener Friday in Tampa. They will host the Brewers in their regular-season opener in New York.
