KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Giancarlo Stanton’s last step before rejoining the Yankees has arrived.
The veteran slugger began a rehab assignment on Tuesday at Double-A Somerset, which is not expected to be a long one if his elbows respond well to game action.
He is likely to play again on Wednesday before the Yankees circle up on Thursday and decide what comes next, though it does not seem out of the question that Stanton could rejoin the Yankees as early as this weekend in Boston against the Red Sox.
“I don’t know about that,” manager Aaron Boone said Tuesday at Kauffman Stadium. “I haven’t gotten that far with it yet. … Just kind of taking it in these two-day increments.”
Stanton has been on the injured list all season after arriving to camp with tendinitis in both elbows, a condition he played through in the second half of last season, including a monster playoff run.
He has said all along he will have to play through some level of pain once he returns this season, but it appears to be in a spot where it is now manageable.
Giancarlo Stanton working out at Yankee Stadium on May 20, 2025.JASON SZENES/NY POST
The 35-year-old DH spent the last two weeks in Tampa getting plenty of live at-bats to ramp up his workload after missing all of spring training.
He was also dealing with a minor calf issue this spring but has since gone through a full running progression to prepare for his return.
“My check-ins with him are — and this is even going back six-eight weeks ago when he was starting to hit a lot and really getting a lot of the grip strength back and that strength to where he can fire the way he needs to fire,” Boone said. “And then getting his legs built up from a running standpoint, getting through the calf stuff. I think he’s had a pretty good go at it here consistently over the last month. My biggest thing is he knows himself so well, he knows what he needs as far as live reps, the machine stuff he does, the Trajekt stuff he does, and then building up his body to be able to move the way he needs to.
“He’s a pretty good evaluator of that and usually doesn’t rush things, even if there’s that, ‘Oh we need him, we need him, we need him.’ Of course we always need him, but he knows what he needs to feel with his body.”
Since 2020, Stanton has come back from six stints on the injured list but only took two rehab assignments — a one-gamer in 2023 and a two-gamer in 2022.
This is about making sure he gets his timing down against live pitching in game settings, before playing in games that count.
When Stanton does return to the active roster, Aaron Boone will be tasked with juggling his lineup. He already has to sit one of Ben Rice, Trent Grisham, Jasson Domínguez, Cody Bellinger or Paul Goldschmidt on a daily basis, and now with Stanton taking up the DH spot, that will become even more complicated.
Stanton is unlikely to play every day, especially early on as he settles back in. Rice and Grisham have cooled off after blistering starts, though Rice is still hitting the ball harder on average than most of the league while Boone said on Friday that he still liked the quality of at-bats Grisham was taking.
Rice, who has received the bulk of DH at-bats in Stanton’s absence, can spell Goldschmidt on occasion at first base (especially against righty starters).
Giancarlo Stanton will be back in the Yankees lineup soon.Charles Wenzelberg/New York Post
He has also been getting regular defensive work at catcher (his natural position) before most games, though he has yet to start there this season.
Even if they opt not to get Rice starts behind the plate, the Yankees could still put together a rotation that gets each of those six players four starts every six games.
But first, Stanton needs to get through Tuesday and Wednesday without any setbacks and feel ready at the plate.
“For him, just getting his body built up and being in a position to where he knows he’s had enough at-bats and enough reps to be game ready, to be season ready,” Boone said. “He’s had a pretty big ramp-up. He’s had a lot of at-bats already, even going into his rehab start tonight. So just making sure he’s had the necessary reps and that he feels really good about when he’s ready to join us that he’s Big G.”
