After an underwhelming first year with the New York Yankees, Giancarlo Stanton is set to have a bounce-back year. Here’s why.
Giancarlo Stanton emerged with the Miami Marlins in 2010 and quickly established himself as a premier MLB power hitter. In fact, after nine big league season and fewer games played, Stanton has amassed more HRs (305) than legends like Barry Bonds of the Giants(259), Hank Aaron of the Braves (298), Willie Mays of the Giants (279), and Mickey Mantle of the Yankees (280).
Stanton reached the apex of his career in 2017 when he won the 2017 NL MVP. That season, Stanton led all of baseball 59 HR, 138 RBI, and a .631 SLG. Most impressively, Stanton led the NL in fWAR (7.3), despite playing for the 77-85 Miami Marlins.
The following season, after being traded to the New York Yankees, Stanton failed to replicate his performance in 2017.
He wasn’t that bad, however, and was the most consistent hitter in a dynamic Yankees lineup.
In 2018, Giancarlo Stanton posted 38 HR and 100 RBI. Not too bad, right?
He also posted career highs in strikeouts (211) and DPs (17). Stanton also failed to deliver the goods in the postseason. In 5 games, Stanton only managed 1 HR, while hitting .238 with a .654 OPS.
In New York, with the Yankees, we’ve seen this all before.
When a star player is traded to the Bronx, where the expectation is to win a championship every single year, if a ring isn’t delivered, that star player will most certainly carry the brunt of the blame for the team.
The good news is that there is a track record for superstar players who have been unexpectedly traded to the Bronx like Giancarlo Stanton, and in many of those cases, it has a happy ending.