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New York Times
13-08-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Yankees' Giancarlo Stanton on pace for his best season yet: What's different
NEW YORK — Giancarlo Stanton has undergone a significant change with his swing that could be critical as the Yankees fight to hold on to the American League's third wild-card spot. Throughout his career, one of the most frustrating parts of Stanton's game has been his high ground ball rate. For a slugger with his power, anything hit on the ground should be considered a win for opposing pitchers. Stanton is known as a prodigious home run hitter, but he has a higher ground ball rate than fly ball rate in his career. It's inexplicable for someone with 441 career home runs. Advertisement But Stanton is currently posting career-best numbers in his age-35 season. His 164 wRC+ would surpass the 158 he posted in his 2017 National League MVP season with the Miami Marlins. It's not a coincidence that Stanton is hitting the ball in the air more than he ever has before. 'Better things happen when I get it in the air,' Stanton said. He's right. Stanton has the highest average launch angle and the highest fly ball rate of his career in 2025. It's the ideal outcome for someone who can hit the ball 447 feet, like he did in the fifth inning of Tuesday night's 9-1 Yankees win over the Minnesota Twins. Stanton finished 4-for-5, his first four-hit game since Aug. 24, 2023. Any lingering doubt about how Stanton would produce coming off of tennis elbow in both arms should be gone. He's better than ever. Greatness starts with G. @Giancarlo818 💣 — New York Yankees (@Yankees) August 13, 2025 'I think it's just the quality of the at-bat,' manager Aaron Boone said. 'He's controlling the strike zone, I feel like, as good as I've seen him. He's going up there with a good plan, and when he's getting the pitch he's looking for, he's doing damage with it. I think it starts with just really controlling the strike zone for him.' Entering Tuesday's game, Stanton's chase rate was down 5.9 percentage points, while his walk rate was over 10 percent for the first time since 2022. That has coincided with Stanton posting a .376 on-base percentage, which would be his highest mark as a Yankee. With how Stanton has been performing at the plate, it's given Boone no other option but to have him play right field, even with limited mobility. They need his bat in the middle of their order. So far, Stanton has held up fine in right field. He hasn't been tested much, and his body has recovered well the day after he plays the field. Advertisement Boone said Stanton could be an option in right field this coming weekend in St. Louis, even though he'd have to cover more ground at Busch Stadium. Coming into the year, the Yankees had no plans of Stanton playing right field this season, and possibly ever again. But with Aaron Judge still working his way back from a right flexor tendon strain, it was Stanton who said he was willing to see if his body could handle it after numerous lower-body injuries. 'He's a leader,' Judge said. 'This guy's been one of the best in the game for quite a long time, and for him to come in and start the season — they kind of tell him just focus on hitting and just focus on coming back. It just speaks volume to the leadership. You know what he means to this team, and how it's it's about what we can do to put the best team out there on the field.' Anything positive the Yankees can get from Stanton in the field is an added bonus, but his true value is what he provides when he's in the box. Among all hitters with at least 150 plate appearances this season, Stanton's .962 OPS is the fifth best in MLB behind Judge, Shohei Ohtani, Nick Kurtz and Ronald Acuña Jr. Another area where Stanton has improved with his swing is by having his highest attack angle since Statcast started measuring the stat in 2023. Attack angle measures the vertical direction that the sweet spot of the bat is traveling at the moment it hits the baseball, per Statcast. A higher attack angle that also makes square contact is likelier to result in a fly ball. Stanton's attack angle in 2023, a career-worst season for him, was 8 degrees. This year, it's 11 degrees. His ideal attack angle percentage, the swings that fall in the range of 5 degrees and 20 degrees, was 63.9 percent entering Tuesday's game. It was 57.3 percent in 2023 and 60.4 percent in 2024, respectively. Advertisement With his otherworldly power to all fields, there may not be a hitter in the sport who benefits more when he hits a ball in the air than Stanton. If he can continue this trend, don't be surprised if he finishes with the best numbers he's had in pinstripes. 'Ever since he's come back, he's been dialed in,' Judge said. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle
Yahoo
12-08-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Cody Bellinger's solo home run (21)
Cody Bellinger hits a solo home run to right field, putting the Yankees on the board with a score of 1-0 in the bottom of the 1st inning
Yahoo
09-08-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
A lesson from the 2000 world champion Yankees that might advise the current club
NEW YORK – There's something this current, wobbling Yankees team might find comforting about the 2000 Yanks. A two-time defending world championship, that 2000 club stumbled into October having played as badly - or worse- than any also-ran, with 15 losses in their last 18 games. As their manager recalled during Saturday's Old-Timer's Day at Yankee Stadium, celebrating the 25th anniversary of that eventual World Series-winning team, the pressure was building daily. In a late-season meeting, Joe Torre told his team: 'I think we may have to drink this champagne before the game,'' instead of waiting for the clinching party. Torre's 2000 club arrived in the playoffs on a seven-game losing streak, out-scored 68-15. 'We didn't finish the way we wanted to,'' said Jorge Posada. "But once we got in, we knew what it took'' to run October's table, concluding with a five-game Subway Series win against the Mets. Is that brand of resolve part of the DNA of these defending AL champion Yankees, with 30 losses in their last 49 games entering Saturday against the Houston Astros? "It's got to come from within,'' said Posada, taking the manager and front office out of the equation. 'Once we got in (postseason) and everybody's 0-0, we knew we had enough to win.'' Andy Pettitte: You'd better embrace the Bronx Since May 28, the 2025 Yankees had dropped from a seven-game division lead to third place, 6.5-games behind the AL East-leading Toronto Blue Jays entering Saturday. They lost six of seven games since the MLB trade deadline after importing NL closers David Bednar and Camilo Doval, while watching two-time All-Star closer Devin Williams unravel again. Watching a dejected Williams exit the mound Friday amid an avalanche of boos and hearing him quietly say 'I stink right now'' marked another low, following a 10-inning loss to Houston. 'That's the way it is playing in New York,'' said Andy Pettitte, speaking generally. 'And if you're going to play here, I hope you love it. Because that's how it is.'' Before the Yankees' alumni - sans Derek Jeter, citing a prior engagement - resumed playing the first Old Timer's Day game since 2019, Hall of Fame closer Mariano Rivera said he planned to seek out Williams. And you can bet that conversation would be designed to boost Williams' self-described flagging confidence. How the Yankees can forge an October path The core of that 2000 team could 'lean back on the success you had in the past,'' said Pettitte, who would come to know every October experience – tons of it – pitching on eight pennant winners. 'It all comes down to making big pitches and big plays in big moments. And you know the momentum can swing like that,'' said Pettitte, snapping his fingers. That 2000 Yankees team extended its losing streak to Game 1 of Division Series before finding a way past the Oakland Athletics, going the full five games. But 'once you get into postseason, it really is a new beginning,'' said Mike Stanton, the valuable lefty reliever on '98, '99 and '00 Yanks title teams. 'We're good. This is where we're supposed to be. Now let's get to work,'' Stanton said of finally flipping the calendar to October. 'It wasn't pretty, but you got there.'' As a Yankees pitching advisor, Pettitte is actively trying to help this stumbling team into October, with a chance at something no pinstriped team has accomplished since the lefty's 2009 club. 'New York is not for the faint of heart if things are not going well,'' said Pettitte. 'We've got the team in place to try and make a run at this thing. I really believe that. 'We've just got to get it going.'' This article originally appeared on A lesson from the 2000 world champs that might advise the current Yankees
Yahoo
20-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Anthony Volpe's two-run homer (11)
Anthony Volpe lifts a two-run homer to left field to cut the Yankees' deficit to 5-2 in the top of the 5th
