SEATTLE — With Giancarlo Stanton often succumbing to injuries and his name missing from the Yankees’ lineup for a second straight day on Wednesday, some wondered if something was wrong with the slugger.
However, Stanton said that he’s healthy when he chatted with reporters inside the visiting clubhouse at T-Mobile Park. He chalked his absences on Tuesday and Wednesday to matchup reasons. With the Yankees also playing a day game on Thursday after a night game on Wednesday, Stanton added that the “better day” for him to play was Thursday.
The Yankees faced — and clobbered — Bryan Woo in Tuesday’s win over the Mariners. Wednesday pitted them against Bryce Miller, while Logan Gilbert is scheduled to pitch Thursday. Like Woo and Miller, Gilbert is a talented righty.
He’s been tougher on lefties in his career, but right-handed hitters have a .561 OPS against him this season.
Asked if Stanton, who hits right-handed, is now a platoon player, Aaron Boone said, “no.”
“More just wanting to get [him] a couple days, wanting to get Aaron [Judge] a DH day [with a] day game after a night game tomorrow, so I have my lefties in there today knowing I want righties in there against Gilbert tomorrow. So not much more to it than that.”
Stanton, sidelined by a hamstring strain earlier this season, is slashing .233/.296/.474 with 25 homers and 64 RBI over 105 games. He’s struggled lately, going 4-for-40 (.118) with zero homers over 10 games since hitting dingers on Sept. 1 and 2.
Stanton has traditionally been better against lefties, but he’s had more success against righties this season.
With Stanton sitting Wednesday, the Yankees had Judge DH’ing, the switch-hitting Jasson Domínguez in center and the lefty-swinging Alex Verdugo in left. Port-side swingers have had more luck against Miller.
Boone added that Judge is also OK after having him DH for the second straight day.
“Judgey’s good, but I certainly value those days for him at this time of the year, especially coming out of an off day,” Boone said. “As much as we’ve leaned on him and others, I want to be mindful of that this time of year as well.”
Those DH days have come at Stanton’s expense, as he no longer plays the outfield.
Asked if he was frustrated about not playing every day, Stanton replied, “We’re not gonna make this a story of how I feel. We’ll be fine either way.”
Boone, meanwhile, insisted that Stanton remains a big part of the Yankees’ plans.
“He’ll play consistently,” the manager said. “He’s in a great frame of mind right now, and he’s going to be right in the middle of things as we go down the stretch and what we hope is October.”
