Yankees News: Giancarlo Stanton 'Possibly' Ahead of Aaron Judge in Injury Rehab
The New York Yankees have found themselves in a bit of a slump while winning just half of their last 10 games.
The good news is reinforcements for the banged-up roster may be on the way.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone told reporters Saturday slugger Giancarlo Stanton ran the bases at "half speed" and is at about "80 percent" overall when running drills. Stanton, who has missed 22 games with a hamstring, is likely ahead of outfielder Aaron Judge in their respective rehabs.
Judge is dealing with a calf strain that sent him back to the injured list on Aug. 26.
At 21-17, New York is 5.5 games back of the first-place Tampa Bay Rays in the American League East and in a tie for second along with the Toronto Blue Jays.
A roster built to win a World Series is suddenly struggling to stay in the playoff picture during a second straight year of injuries piling up.
Aside from Judge and Stanton, the Yankees are still missing Gleyber Torres and James Paxton. The former could return on Sunday while the latter isn't expected to take the field for another two or three weeks, Pitchers Luis Severino and Tommy Kahnle are out for the year after undergoing Tommy John surgery.
That makes an impending return from Stanton even more crucial. When New York is at full strength, there is hardly a player in the lineup opponents can pitch around.
“He’s still a bit away, but Stanton had a good day [Wednesday] upping his running,” Boone said, per NJ.com's Randy Miller. “And he has been throwing and hitting. It’s more getting over that last hurdle to where he can really let it go from a running standpoint, then we can start to think about getting him into some [sim] game activities.”
Once Stanton and Judge are back—and if the Yankees are still in the playoff picture—their manager will expect some large contributions as soon as possible.
“I don’t know exactly when, but we absolutely feel like they’re going to be back," Boone said. "That gives us some excitement. We’ve just got to spend these next several days getting them healed up and getting them right knowing the kind of role they’re going to play for us down the stretch and through October.”
