Yankees' Giancarlo Stanton showing signs he's getting closer to return from long stint on injured list
Yankees' Giancarlo Stanton swings during a live batting practice session before a game against the St. Louis Cardinals at Yankee Stadium on Aug. 3, 2026. Credit: Jim McIsaac
How close is Giancarlo Stanton to returning to the Yankees’ lineup?
Though the Yankees continue to protect that information the way the U.S. government once did with anything relating to the Manhattan Project, the veteran designated hitter clearly is making progress.
Stanton, who has not played since April 24 because of two different right calf injuries, was seen on the field at Yankee Stadium running the bases before Tuesday night’s game against the Mariners and went through a similar regimen of work Wednesday afternoon.
“It does feel like he’s getting closer,” manager Aaron Boone said Tuesday.
Boone did not offer much more than that.
He said he couldn’t say what would be next for Stanton though, given the trouble the 36-year-old has had when it comes to lower body injuries over the years, that he was able to run the bases at what appeared to be relatively full speed on back-to-back days isn’t insignificant progress.
In past Stanton rehabs from lower-body injuries, and there have been a lot of them, running the bases typically has been among the final steps before him being activated for either a rehab assignment in the minor leagues or outright activation to the roster.
Boone said he could not say for certain if the DH would need a rehab assignment, other than to say there was “a chance of that.”
The vagueness surrounding Stanton is defensible on some level. After playing 158 games in his first season with the Yankees in 2018, Stanton has at least one stint on the injured list in each subsequent season, the vast majority of them of the lower-body variety.
There was a right knee sprain that cost him time in 2019, a left hamstring strain that sidelined him in 2020, a left quad sprain in 2021 and right ankle inflammation in 2022 and, later in that season, left Achilles tendonitis landing him on the IL. And on and on.
Working his way back earlier this season from the calf strain that put him on the IL, Stanton suffered what GM Brian Cashman characterized as a “new injury” in the right calf area in mid-June shortly after beginning a running program.
Nothing, obviously, can be taken as a guarantee with any player working his way back from an injury, with Stanton especially.
Still, the recent signs have been good.
Before starting running the bases, Stanton received clearance to hit indoors and has taken live BP.
“Every time I see him, he’s got a bat in his hand,” hitting coach James Rowson said before Wednesday night’s game. “I know I’m excited to see him in there [the indoor batting cages]. Now that he’s starting to do the running and some other things, it’s cool because you get that feeling that he’s getting closer.”
Stanton, the sport’s active home run leader with 456, hit .256 with three homers and a .724 OPS the first 24 games of the season before getting injured. Those number, however, are hardly relevant because of the impact Stanton has both on his teammates and the opposition.
“A guy of his caliber, with that track record, immediately commands respect,” Rowson said. “From our lineup standpoint, you get excited when you’re able to get a guy like that back. And then from the opposing side, that’s one more guy that’s dangerous and you can’t make a mistake. You know with one swing of the bat, this guy changes scores. So I really feel like it’s a big boost from our side, and it’s also a big negative from the other side because it’s a bat you have to worry about.”
Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.
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