Yankees searching for answers after another Giancarlo Stanton injury

NEW YORK — At the time, everything about Giancarlo Stanton’s two-run double in the seventh inning of Saturday’s win over the Twins made it a light-hearted moment.

What looked like another Stantonian blast off the bat ended up staying in the yard. Cameras showed some of Stanton’s teammates dumbfounded in the Yankees’ dugout, laughing as Stanton broke into a sprint after walking out of the box, pulling into second base. Even Michael Kay thought it was gone, dropping a signature See Ya! on the YES Network broadcast before quickly correcting himself, watching the missile clank off the wall in left-center field.

This was no laughing matter, though. Stanton came out of the game after the play and while it seemed like a sensible substitution in the final few innings with a commanding lead, it was also due to an injury.

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The slugger hurt his hamstring as he decelerated into second base on that play. On Sunday morning, Stanton was placed on the 10-day injured list. The severity of his hamstring strain won’t be determined until he undergoes an MRI later on Sunday afternoon.

Shortstop prospect Oswald Peraza was promoted from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to replace Stanton on the active roster before Sunday’s game.

“Let’s see what the MRI says,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said moments after the roster move was announced. “He was moving around OK after the game, but he definitely felt like before even getting the MRI that it was an IL stint.”

They knew Stanton was going to the injured list that quickly? Before any imaging? That’s not a good sign.

This is Stanton’s seventh trip to the injured list in the last five seasons. The majority of those IL stints have been a result of soft-tissue injuries in Stanton’s lower half. The slugger suffered a different left hamstring strain during the pandemic-shortened season in 2020, missing just under a month. Stanton sat for two weeks with a left quad strain in 2021. He was sidelined briefly with a right calf strain last year, missing a month later in the season with left Achilles tendinitis.

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No matter what Stanton and the Yankees try, the superstar can’t stay healthy for a full season. He’s mixed in different training regimens. He’s tried playing more defense in the outfield. The result is always the same.

Asked why this keeps happening to Stanton, Boone was at a loss.

“I don’t know,” Boone said, taking a beat with a dejected tone. “He’s got an awesome build and physique. He works very hard to try and avoid these things. But unfortunately, it is something that’s happened with him.”

This could be a minor hiccup in a big year for Stanton. He was hitting .269 with four home runs and 11 RBI through his first 13 games of the season, a strong pace midway through April. The optics of another IL stint for Stanton are ominous, though. As good as he’s been in the postseason over the last few years, and as accountable he’s been during his slumps, he continues to miss chunks of time when his team needs him to be an anchor in the heart of the lineup.

For a streaky hitter like Stanton, weeks off from seeing live pitching are never a recipe for success either.

“There’s no good timing for it, obviously,” Boone added. “I know he’s really frustrated, but it’s opportunity now. It’s opportunity for frankly people we have a lot of confidence in that we can mix and match, we can get some other people back here in the next few days, in the next couple of weeks, and we’ve got to make do.”

Peraza got the call from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre because of the Yankees’ 40-man roster crunch. Boone called it a “tricky” situation, promoting a prospect that needs consistent playing time to continue his development when the Yankees already have a logjam of infielders on their active roster.

Barring any other injuries — and depending on the severity of Stanton’s diagnosis — expect Peraza to be strapping back onto the Scranton Shuttle in a few days when third baseman Josh Donaldson is ready to return from his own hamstring strain. Until then, he’ll factor into the equation at both shortstop and second base.

“The reality is we brought up a really good player here in a time of need right now,” Boone said.

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Max Goodman may be reached at mgoodman@njadvancemedia.com.