Giancarlo Stanton continued his powerful streak Wednesday night in Kansas city, launching a monstrous two-run shot that traveled 449 feet.
Giancarlo Stanton with an ABSOLUTE
4⃣4⃣9⃣ FEET
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— YES Network (@YESNetwork) June 13, 2024
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The numbers don’t necessarily show just how much better Stanton has been this year. Mind you, he only hit .191 in 2023 and .211 in 2022, so the bar was pretty low from the start. Stanton batting .233 with 17 homers and 40 RBI on June 13 almost seems like an MVP season by comparison.
It’s not as though he’s making hard contact into a bunch of outs either. Stanton’s expecting batting average (xBA) is only .253, putting him in the 53rd percentile. His bat speed, however, is the league’s best.
Add slimming down in the winter, and it’s almost a brand new Giancarlo Stanton in his age-34 season. We should also point out he has appeared in 61 of the Yankees’ 70 games thus far. Unprecedentedly healthy indeed!
Except, those are still just small pieces of the Giancarlo Stanton hitting puzzle. His power resurgence comes from a simple change in approach, courtesy of hitting coach James Rowson.
Consider this. Before establishing himself as a valued hitting coach in the majors, Rowson served two separate stints as the Yankees’ minor league hitting coordinator. His job was to establish a hitting approach and philosophy throughout the organization. In turn, part of this job is recognizing and playing to individual hitters’ strengths.
What are Stanton’s at this stage of his career? Well, his raw power is still there, as is his eye for the strike zone. His .288 on-base percentage doesn’t show it, but there’s a reason Stanton’s walks have dropped too.
Giancarlo Stanton is simply using that raw power to be more aggressive in the batter’s box. He’s batting .333 with a 1.333 OPS on the first pitch, including five of his 17 home runs. Stanton has been even better on a 1-0 count, batting .412 with a 1.412 OPS.
On an even 1-1 count, Giancarlo Stanton is hitting .391 with a 1.199 OPS. He’s done as well as he has this year simply by attacking the best pitches he sees early in the count.
Look at Stanton’s numbers under the same circumstances last year, and you’d never know he was a career power hitter. He hit .207 on the first pitch, .222 on 1-0, and a modest .286 on 1-1.
Contrastingly, Stanton was far better in the same counts in 2022, though he still had a down year by his standards. He only hit .240 on the first pitch, but .346 and .313 in the latter two counts.
It even reflects in his career splits. They aren’t reflective of an overall trend, but it’s no coincidence that Stanton is a .377 career hitter on the first pitch. He actually bats well above .300 in most early counts.
The Yankees clearly took a look at Giancarlo Stanton in spring training and drew a simple conclusion. Use the bat speed to be aggressive early in the count, and trust the man to play his game. He’s a veteran and former MVP, he knows how to adjust from that point.
Still not convinced? Stanton is batting .281 with runners in scoring position this season compared to just .233 in general.
Who knows how long it will last, but Stanton looks as strong as he has since first coming to the Yankees in 2018. It’s a great comeback story amidst a potentially greater comeback season.
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