Yankees' Giancarlo Stanton Likely to Be Ready for Opening Day After Calf Injury

Whenever the 2020 MLB season gets underway, the New York Yankees expect to have Giancarlo Stanton in the lineup, according to MLB.com's Bryan Hoch. 

Yankees hitting coach Marcus Thames told reporters Wednesday that Stanton "looks good."

"He did some stuff inside and then we took a couple of rounds on the field, trying to space ourselves out, not touching the balls and all kinds of stuff," Thames said.

Stanton was diagnosed with a Grade 1 right calf strain in February, which put his availability for the originally scheduled Opening Day in doubt.

As a result of the coronavirus pandemic, MLB pushed the start of the regular season back by two weeks. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention subsequently recommended an eight-week break from any events with more than 50 people, which led the league to extend its ongoing hiatus.

Stanton was limited to 18 games for the Yankees during the regular season in 2019 and made five appearances in the postseason.

No team was more snakebitten than New York, which lost an MLB-high 2,952 days for players on the injured list, per Spotrac. Aaron Judge, Didi Gregorius, Domingo German and Gary Sanchez were among the others who missed extended stretches.

The Yankees' injury luck wasn't turning around this offseason.

Aaron Hicks is already set to miss a chunk of the year after undergoing Tommy John surgery in October. Luis Severino had Tommy John surgery in February, which knocks him out for all of 2020. A few weeks earlier, the Yankees announced James Paxton would miss three to four months after undergoing a microscopic lumbar discectomy.

Wednesday's news about Stanton provides a brief respite for the franchise.