Giancarlo Stanton said he was happy to make his first All-Star appearance as an outfielder at Dodger Stadium on July 19. It will be his second appearance in the tournament since 2017. It will also be his first All-Star game appearance as a Yankee. Check out the best new sportsbooks for betting on baseball!
“It’s amazing. Thank you to the fans,” Stanton said. “It’s really cool to be able to go where I grew up and be in the All-Star Game. It’s going to be really cool.”
While he said he was happy to make an All-Star appearance as a Yankee, he found his start with the team, which was ravaged by injuries, frustrating.
“It was a very annoying and very frustrating time to deal with,” he said.
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After a blockbuster trade that sent him from the Miami Marlins to the New York Yankees, Stanton began suffering from injuries.
“It hurts the team, as well as me, not being able to be in the field,” Stanton said. “I’m smart enough to understand I was choke-holding the lineup a little bit by not being able to get out there.”
“Not being able to be out there [in the field] when you’re not hitting the way you’d like, you can’t even help the team on defense. You feel like a one-sided player,” he said further.
In 2018, he played 72 games in the outfield, which dropped to 13 games in 2019. Stanton did not participate in any games in 2020 before he started appearing in 26 games last year.
This season, Stanton has already played in 34 games on defense. Yankees manager Brian Cashman said he took Stanton’s injuries into consideration when he pitched in the trade for Stanton.
“It wasn’t our plan, when we acquired him, to just have him at DH,” Cashman said. “It was for he and Judge to share time back and forth [in the outfield]. But it didn’t work out that way initially. There was a period of time when [Stanton] got hit with injuries, but hopefully, that’s behind us now. Once [Aaron Boone] felt comfortable deploying him there, it’s given us a lot of flexibility.
“I haven’t once felt bad about the trade. We didn’t give up anything and got an All-Star caliber player that, bottom-line, when healthy, I don’t think any pitcher wants to face. He’s proven he can play in the postseason and he’s been an unbelievable teammate, no matter what’s going on.”
Aiming for consistency
Before playing against the Boston Red Sox on Sunday, in which the Yankees lost, Stanton was in a 34-game streak, hitting .139 (16-for-115). Ten of those hits were homers.
Stanton said that he was looking forward to being more consistent at the home plate. He also said he tried to block out any external criticisms and focus on his games.
“I try to make sure I don’t do this for anyone but myself,’’ Stanton said.
“Everything else is secondary. I put in all the work, so I have to be my biggest critic and biggest cheerleader at the same time. But it definitely wasn’t ideal. I understand the weight of all that goes into it. No one was more disappointed anywhere than me. I know what my job is, and it’s all I’m focused on.”
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