It’s still early, but the initial returns are beginning to repeat themselves with Giancarlo Stanton.
The Yankees slugger has had a quiet return from the injured list, which is in line with each of the past two seasons, when he came back from leg injuries, though the sample size this time around is still small.
Entering Saturday, after Friday’s series opener against the Rangers was postponed by rain, Stanton was batting 5-for-26 (.192) with a .491 OPS and two doubles in seven games (six starts) since missing five weeks on the injured list with a hamstring strain and not going on a rehab assignment before being activated.
The 34-year-old has struck out only four times in that stretch, which could be reason for some optimism as he looks to get clicking at the plate.
Stanton picked up his first RBI since coming back during garbage time Thursday night with a single.
If and when Stanton returns to being the middle-of-the-order threat he was before landing on the IL on June 23, manager Aaron Boone could pull the trigger on flip-flopping Aaron Judge and Juan Soto in the lineup to help get Judge more pitches to hit out of the two-hole.
Boone would likely want a right-handed bat (Stanton) to hit cleanup if Soto were batting third.
“Getting ‘G’ back into the mix and getting him going again could factor into that too when you look at those first four or five hitters in the lineup,” Boone said earlier this week.
The Yankees bolstered their minor league depth Friday, acquiring speedy outfielder Cam Eden from the Blue Jays in exchange for cash considerations.
Eden was not on the Blue Jays 40-man roster, so he was eligible to be dealt after the July 30 trade deadline. The Yankees assigned him to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
The 26-year-old Eden had been at the Blue Jays Triple-A affiliate, where he was batting .198 with a .620 OPS and 26 steals in 91 games. He swiped 53 bags in 57 attempts last season in 131 games at Triple-A.
Carlos Rodon had been in line to face his former team, the White Sox, in Chicago on Wednesday for the first time since leaving after the 2022 season.
But because of Friday’s postponement — Rodon was supposed to start the series opener against the Rangers — that will no longer happen.