TAMPA — With Yankees place gamers reporting to camp on Sunday, Aaron Boone shared a number of new harm updates.
Essentially the most notable pertained to Giancarlo Stanton, who’s “a little behind” attributable to some points with each of his elbows that date again to late final season and the playoffs. Stanton, who loved a torrent postseason, performed via the soreness final yr. Boone known as the issue “akin to tennis elbow.”
“We’ll slow-play him a little bit,” Boone mentioned. “It’s just something we don’t want to rush. We can get to a really good spot, and we know we’re gonna have to probably deal with some maintenance with it throughout the year, but we just don’t want to force anything too early.
“This is something that, if we’re full-bore in, we’d be grinding away probably. But we just want to make sure we give it the proper time.”
Stanton shut down not too long ago and has been getting therapy, however Boone mentioned the designated hitter has not acquired any injections or undergone any procedures.
At this level, it’s too quickly to know if Stanton’s elbows will jeopardize his availability for Opening Day.
“I don’t know,” Boone mentioned. “We’ll see. Tough to say. I’m not going to put any timeline on it. We’re just going to be smart with it and kind of listen to it.”
The supervisor later added, “I’m expecting him to be okay. It’s just a matter of when we want to start really rolling it out.”
Retaining in thoughts that Stanton’s elbows will seemingly require upkeep all through the season, Boone mentioned, “I hope not” when requested if the slugger’s efficiency will likely be affected.
It wasn’t final October, as Stanton posted a 1.048 OPS within the playoffs whereas totaling seven dwelling runs and 16 RBI. His heroics earned him ALCS MVP honors and adopted a bounce-back season that noticed him slash .233/.298/.475 with 27 homers and 72 RBI.
With Juan Soto not below their employment, Stanton’s well being and continued manufacturing are of the utmost significance to a lineup that can also be banking on a number of different former MVPs. Whereas Aaron Choose stays certainly one of baseball’s high offensive threats, newcomers Cody Bellinger and Paul Goldschmidt provide much less certainty.
Boone additionally famous that the Yankees are slightly extra left-handed than they have been final season, so dropping Stanton’s highly effective right-handed swing for an prolonged time would damage the lineup’s steadiness.
Stanton has a protracted harm historical past, although it’s his decrease physique that has sometimes sidelined him. He missed slightly over a month with a hamstring pressure final yr. He has additionally suffered hamstring, Achilles, calf and quad and knee accidents since becoming a member of the Yankees earlier than the 2018 season, which prompted him to revamp his offseason routine and physique two offseasons in the past.
Stanton, who didn’t converse to reporters on Sunday, appeared trim as soon as once more when he stopped by his locker.
“He missed the one month [in 2024], but in and around that, the other five months, he was such a presence, whether it was in that four-hole or five-hole, night in and night out,” Boone mentioned. “He was a threat all the time. And in a lot of ways, it was probably his most consistent year in the last few and relatively steady health. He’s huge for us, especially 1739739470 that [we’re] a little more left-handed.”
Grisham’s Additionally Behind
Stanton isn’t the one Yankee enjoying catchup, as backup outfielder Trent Grisham pulled a hamstring a number of weeks in the past throughout offseason coaching.
Nonetheless, Boone mentioned that Grisham has resumed baseball actions. He ran near “full bore” on Sunday.
“He shouldn’t be too far behind,” Boone mentioned, “but definitely won’t push it too much.”
Acquired alongside Soto in a commerce with the Padres, Grisham is getting into his second season with the Yankees. The gifted defender hardly ever performed final season, hitting .190 with 9 homers and 31 RBI over 76 video games and 179 at-bats.
Cousins Received’t Rush
Jake Cousins, who reported to camp with a forearm pressure final week, will not be able to say he’ll miss Opening Day, however the right-handed reliever doesn’t wish to rush something, both.
“We’re gonna do everything we can to get back as soon as possible, but we’re gonna make sure that I’m healthy,” he mentioned Sunday. “We don’t want this to be something that I deal with all season.”
Cousins, who loved a breakout season with the Yankees final yr, suffered the pressure over the offseason. He threw and acquired therapy all through the winter and visited Tampa as he constructed up. He felt soreness after 4 or 5 classes on the mound and instructed workforce trainers he felt “beat up.”
Cousins is now three weeks into being shut down and taking issues daily.
Cousins, who additionally had a shoulder pressure whereas in Washington’s system a number of years in the past, added that his ulnar collateral ligament “looked great.”
Add A Coach To The Listing
Boone made positive to volunteer yet another harm replace earlier than his Sunday press convention ended: Brad Ausmus pulled his hamstring enjoying pickup basketball on Saturday.
Boone mentioned the bench coach damage himself “pretty bad.” Ausmus may very well be seen strolling gingerly via the Yankees’ clubhouse minutes later. An ex-catcher, he joked that he’s been higher.
“Obviously, I advised him not to do that, but he wanted to take this 55-year-old back out there,” mentioned Boone, whose Yankees enjoying profession famously ended with a torn ACL suffered in a pickup basketball recreation. “So we’re dealing with that.”
Requested if he was on the opposite workforce, Boone replied, “Absolutely not. I stay in my lane.”
