Giancarlo Stanton’s pinch-hitting has become a weapon for the New York Yankees.
Stanton delivered the first extra-inning pinch-hit home run for the Yankees in 11 years, which was the difference in their 6-4 win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday.
The Yankees won their fifth straight game and moved 1.5 games up on the Boston Red Sox as the No. 1 wild card. New York (69-57) is 9-2 in its past 11 games and trails the American League East-leading Toronto Blue Jays by four games.
What Did Giancarlo Stanton Do Against The Rays?
David Bednar’s rare ninth-inning blow up left the Yankees tied in extra innings and on the verge of a catastrophic loss in presumably their final road game at Steinbrenner Field.
Enter Stanton, who led off the 10th inning pinch-hitting for Ryan McMahon, who worked a 3-2 count then smoked a 108.1mph, 384-foot rocket over the left-field wall for a two-run homer — Anthony Volpe scored as the automatic runner.
It was the first extra-inning, pinch-hit home run since Brian McCann on Aug. 24, 2014, nearly 11 years to the date. According to Yankees stats guru Katie Sharp, it was just the seventh extra-inning pinch-hit home run in the past 100 years.
“Hit on repeat on what Iâve been saying about him mentally,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “Heâs just so good at the mental game now and preparing and knowing how to do it. Just having tremendous self-awareness of who he is as a hitter now. Heâs an animal.”
How Did Giancarlo Stanton Become A Good Pinch Hitter?
The remarkable part of Stanton’s pinch-hitting is how horrible he was at it before the season. He entered the season 5 for 46 in his potential Hall of Fame career and did not have a home run.
Yet, Stanton is arguably New York’s best offensive weapon right now — including Aaron Judge. Only his defensive deficiencies, and 35-year-old body, are keeping him from playing every day, since Judge is unable to play right field while recovers from an elbow injury.
Stanton is slashing .343/.405/.806 with 10 homers and 23 RBIs and 12 runs scored in his past 67 at-bats and has seven home runs and a 1.027 OPS in 44 plate appearances in August.
“Youâre just shaking your head at what heâs doing right now and the level of at-bat no matter what heâs up against,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “Itâs great to see. What a weapon to have over there at that point in the game.”
Yet, the fact Stanton has become a bench weapon for the Yankees has somehow made him even more dangerous. Stanton is 4 for 7 with two walks as a pinch hitter and two home runs.
According to Stanton, his improvement in pinch-hitting situations has been about making adjustments.
“How to relax; how to test your mind, test your body,” Stanton told The Athletic. “Test everything in the situation. Itâs not always going to go well, but at least you can make adjustments and figure it out.
“I feel like the idea and the mindset is usually there. Itâs just usually the idea clicking and doing the rest. So, thereâs always adjustments, and you get smarter and better over the years, but itâs just applying [it]. You can have the right idea, but not execute. Itâs just about executing more.â
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