TAMPA – Giancarlo Stanton has not swung a bat in three to four weeks and it remains to be seen when he will do so again.
The Yankees slugger arrived at camp dealing with the equivalent of tennis elbow on both sides, something that he said he played through for “most of” last season (including a monster postseason) before it flared up again in the offseason.
The club wants to give it time to recover now, so Stanton does not have to miss time once the season starts, but whether he will be ready for Opening Day is in doubt.
“We’ll see how that goes,” Stanton said Monday when asked if he would be good to go for March 27 against the Brewers.
The 35-year-old DH described tennis elbow as tears in your tendon and something that presented a constant level of pain – which he said was “very high in general.”
As for whether the injury would eventually require surgery?
“If you blow it up, which overdoing it would,” Stanton said. “But obviously not what you want. That would be the same if anything were to tear off. But that’s not a worry.”
The Yankees can ill-afford to lose Stanton for a long stretch. They are already having to deal with the loss of Juan Soto, and while they acquired Cody Bellinger and Paul Goldschmidt over the offseason to help make up for that absence, Stanton provides an important presence in the middle of the lineup when healthy.
As the Yankees held the first full-squad workout on Monday at Steinbrenner Field, the plan was for Stanton to continue getting treatment, which included forearm work, tissue work and other exercises.
“It’s definitely not just soreness,” Stanton said. “It was a manageable thing [last year]. That’s how last year and this year will go.
“It’s not a, ‘When did it feel good, when did it feel bad?’ There’s always a pain level there. You got to deal with that. It’s just the wisest point to give time right now.”
Stanton, who hit seven home runs in 14 games during a red-hot playoff run to help the Yankees reach the World Series, said he was playing through the pain in October but never considered not being out there.
“This is just a time to get as much time as I can before – the idea is not to take downtime [during the season],” Stanton said. “This is the smartest time during a shorter offseason window to be able to do that.”
