TAMPA — In the Yankees’ home away from home, Giancarlo Stanton is venturing back to right field.
Stanton will start Tuesday’s game against the Rays in right field at Steinbrenner Field, manager Aaron Boone said on his weekly Talkin’ Yanks podcast appearance, before sitting out Wednesday’s game in advance of a crucial four-game series against the Red Sox back in The Bronx.
It will mark Stanton’s first time playing the field since Wednesday — the last of three straight days he played the field, the first time he had done so since 2022 — which he had a difficult time recovering from.
Giancarlo Stanton will play right field against the Rays.IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
That lower-body soreness, along with Busch Stadium’s more spacious outfield, kept Boone from using Stanton in right field over the weekend in a sweep of the Cardinals.
But Steinbrenner Field, the Yankees’ spring training home, has the same dimensions as Yankee Stadium, meaning a smaller right field that the club is apparently comfortable with Stanton roaming.
The Yankees know that playing Stanton in the field comes with an injury risk, but they are willing to do it to get his bat in the lineup at a time when Aaron Judge is limited to DH duties as he works back from a right flexor strain.
it is not known when Aaron Judge will return to the field.AP
Judge’s timetable for returning to right field remains unclear, as he has played catch out to 150 feet but has not yet thrown to bases and the Yankees have been tight-lipped on when that might happen.
On Sunday, Stanton declined to say if there was a specific body part ailing him or just general soreness, which is how Boone had described it.
The manager likened it to spring training when players are ramped up slowly to avoid injury, though Stanton knows the Yankees are at a critical point of their season.
“We got to make something work,” he said Sunday. “There’s no, ‘like spring training, like whatever.’ … Team’s done great to pick me up in that regard.”
