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Giancarlo Stanton among four struggling MLB Players who can turn it around and two who won’t

By Damian Dydyn

NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 22: Giancarlo Stanton #27 of the New York Yankees reacts after he grounds out to end the third inning in an MLB baseball game against the Toronto Blue Jays on April 22, 2018 at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx borough of New York City. Yankees won 5-1. (Photo by Paul Bereswill/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Giancarlo Stanton
NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 22: Giancarlo Stanton #27 of the New York Yankees reacts after he grounds out to end the third inning in an MLB baseball game against the Toronto Blue Jays on April 22, 2018 at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx borough of New York City. Yankees won 5-1. (Photo by Paul Bereswill/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Giancarlo Stanton /
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Giancarlo Stanton
NEW YORK, NY – APRIL 24: (NEW YORK DAILIES OUT) Giancarlo Stanton #27 of the New York Yankees in action against the Minnesota Twins at Yankee Stadium on April 24, 2018, in the Bronx borough of New York City. The Yankees defeated the Twins 8-3. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images) /

Giancarlo Stanton, OF – Yankees (.230/.313/.425, 5 HR)

A quick look at Giancarlo Stanton and his Fangraphs page might leave New York Yankees fans worried. His walk rate has dropped from 12.3% to 9.4% since last season. His strikeout rate is up to 33.6%, a career high and up 10% from 2017. Along with the contact and discipline issues, his ISO has dropped to .195, a 155 point drop from his career-high .350 from last season.

And that’s the key here. 2017 was likely a career year for the 28-year-old mammoth slugger. And that’s okay. Giancarlo Stanton has a long way to fall before he’s not a great player. His early season struggles are a combination of a few things, but there is no reason to think Giancarlo Stanton has fallen off the table.

A few tweaks might be in order for Giancarlo Stanton 

While the former Marlin is not suffering from poor BABIP luck, he is doing some things that shouldn’t be too hard to correct, once he’s taken a breath and gotten used to the new super bright lights of Yankee Stadium. For one, he sees too many pitches. The 4.29 P/PA of Giancarlo Stanton is a career high. He’s also squaring the ball up less frequently with a Brls/PA of 8.6, just 54th in all of MLB. His 11.0 was 3rd in the majors last year.

These things are likely related. Giancarlo Stanton is being more patient, but not attacking his pitch and doing damage as a result. This suggests he’s tentative, which likely means he’s pressing. He’ll snap out of it eventually. He’s too good not to.

The hard hit percentage of Giancarlo Stanton is 52.1%, up 6.6 from 2017, and his expected slugging is .501. And his average launch angle is down 2.6 degrees from last season, 5.5 from 2016. These are all correctable things, and some may sort themselves out when Giancarlo Stanton gets over the enhanced pressure of playing in the Bronx.

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