Giancarlo Stanton has officially been activated from the 60-day injured list, the Yankees announced Wednesday. In order to open a spot on the 40-man roster, the Yankees placed Dellin Betances on the 60-day IL. Betances suffered a partial tear of his Achilles tendon in his first appearance of the 2019 season.
Stanton’s return to the lineup — he’s batting fifth and playing left field tonight — is a more-than-welcome sight for the injury-plagued Yankees. However, Stanton won’t play a full game tonight and will seemingly be eased back into the mix. Manager Aaron Boone told reporters that the slugger will play only four to five innings to get some at-bats under his belt (Twitter link via Bryan Hoch of MLB.com). Stanton could play a full game as a DH on Thursday, though.
While Stanton’s first year in the Bronx didn’t quite live up to the MVP standard he set in 2017, he nevertheless proved to be a force in the middle of a potent Yankees lineup. In 705 plate appearances (158 games) last season, Stanton hit .266/.343/.509 with 38 home runs, 34 doubles and a triple. He’s been limited to just nine games in 2019 thanks to a biceps strain and a knee strain, but he’ll now have a couple of weeks to ramp back up to game speed as the Yankees prepare for the American League Division Series. New York has lost Mike Tauchman for the season and isn’t likely to get Aaron Hicks back, either, so Stanton will be in line for regular work in left field with Brett Gardner lining up in center and Aaron Judge manning right field.
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