Yankees slugger Giancarlo Stanton is expected to begin the season on the IL due to elbow injuries, but could be out a significant amount of time.
Stanton said Saturday his elbow injuries are “considered severe in both elbows” and if he were to get surgery, it would be season-ending, according to MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch. He said the issues are due to “bat adjustments” from the 2024 season.
The 35-year-old rejoined the team in Tampa on Friday, but is scheduled to return to New York on Monday for a third round of PRP injections. He is unsure when he’ll be able to resume baseball activities, per Hoch.
He has not been able to swing a bat since mid-January, as manager Aaron Boone noted Friday that he “doubts” Stanton would play in any of the remaining spring training games.
Yankees GM Brian Cashman said Thursday that surgery can’t be ruled out and would be a “last resort” for Stanton. He mentioned the elbow issues began to resurface about three weeks before camp started when Stanton started to swing again.
“It’d be a last resort… I can’t rule out a surgery, but I know it’s not recommended on the front end of this thing,” Cashman told reporters. “But obviously if you have a number of different failed attempts then you start looking at different ways of intervention.”
“Ultimately, he was dealing with it at the end of last year and obviously thought we were in a game place and I think he was feeling in a good place” Cashman added, “but then it reared its ugly head about three weeks before camp, is my understanding, so now we’re dealing with it.”
Stanton dealt with elbow issues during the 2024 season, managing to play in 114 regular season games and slash .233/.298/.475 with 27 homers and 72 RBI. He hit seven home runs and had 16 RBI in 14 playoff games.
