By Ed Botti
As a part of Start Spreading the News’ top 10 list of “players we are most excited to see what they do” in 2020, let’s take a quick look at Giancarlo Stanton.
I am not sure if the proper word necessarily is “excited”, but I am certainly intrigued to see how the abbreviated 2020 season unfolds for Giancarlo Stanton.
It just may be a catalyst or springboard of things to come in 2021 and beyond.
2019 was a total and complete washout for Stanton, made worse when he injured his calf in V 1.0 of spring training in Tampa this past February.
A healthy Stanton is a huge impact and addition to the Yankees lineup.
Anything closely resembling his last 2 healthy years of 2017 and 2018 could very well be the final piece to a championship puzzle.
2017 was one for the books as he hit 59 home runs with 132 RBI while batting .281, enough to earn NL MVP. Asking for that again is unreasonable.
But 2018 was impressive as well, as he hit 38 home runs with 100 RBI while batting .266 in his freshman year in the Bronx.
Deservedly so or not, he started to take on some Bronx cheers late in 2018 and even during his brief and abbreviated 2019 post season appearances.
I believe it impacted him. No one can avoid the NY Media’s criticism and all of the social media ridiculous and uninformed rants questioning your abilities, it has to enter your mind, and the mind effects the body.
Sometimes we forget these guys are actually human.
What intrigues me is if he is healthy, and he appears to be, will he benefit in 2020 from not having the pressure of performing in front of 50,000 per night in the Bronx? If he does, it just may change many of his detractor’s opinions about him, and he might settle in and have solid seasons in front of the fans during the remainder of his tenure as a Yankee.
It will be interesting. But of course, he needs to stay on the field. If not he may need to change his name back to Mike Stanton!
