2020 Season Preview: Giancarlo Stanton

As we patiently (or not so patiently) await news of when or if the 2020 season will commence, Giancarlo Stanton might be one of the players benefiting from this delayed start. After missing most of 2019 with various injuries, Yankees fans are hoping to see the All-Star outfielder return to form in 2020. Unfortunately, he started Spring Training with a calf injury and almost immediately was slated to miss Opening Day. Now that Opening Day has moved, it is likely he should be ready and reports out of what remains of the Yankees’ Spring Training camp are that is calf is recovering well.

I’m not going to speculate on what percentage of games Stanton will play this year, or anything else related to injuries with him. I find that kind of conversation pointless right now and am going to continue as if this calf issue will be resolved by the time we have baseball again. Stanton played over 150 games in each of the two seasons prior to 2019, so he hasn’t turned into Jacoby Ellsbury yet.

This should be a big year for Stanton. Aaron Boone certainly thinks the outfielder will bounce back strong in 2020, and given the general excitement around this team, I think there is a good chance Stanton settles into a comfortable role with New York. Unlike in Miami, Stanton doesn’t have to carry this team. At age 30, Stanton is in the prime of his career, and perhaps being part of a team with people like Aaron Judge, Gerrit Cole, DJ LeMahieu, and the rest will allow him to relax and get back into the swing of things.

In looking ahead to what kind of numbers we could expect from Stanton, I went to Fangraphs and checked out the various projections they have. Overall, projections have Stanton hitting about .263/.350/.570 in 2020 with 40 homers and 100 RBIs (though obviously those latter numbers will change when we find out just how short this season may be). They expect him to strikeout about 30% of the time, which is a little higher than his average.

There are lots of questions to be asked about what 2020 holds for baseball and even more for Giancarlo Stanton. Personally, I’m hoping we see as much of both of them as we can. A healthy Yankees team should be incredibly competitive this year and Stanton is a key piece of the puzzle.