The last time Giancarlo Stanton stole a base in a regular-season game, there were no fans in the stands because of the pandemic. The pitch clock was years away, let alone automatic balls and strikes.
But even then, a half-decade ago in August of 2020, he was a few years removed from his last healthy season. Even then, the big-bodied slugger seemed worn enough that his best years were behind him, and that his future would be determined by how much he could produce in the limited duty that body would allow as it aged.
So when Stanton took off for second base in the Yankees’ 9-7 win Saturday night, advanced on a ground ball, then scampered home on a passed ball to provide a much-needed run in the seventh, it highlighted the ways in which he has spent the first week of this season — and really, most of last — defying an aging process that has not always been kind to him.
“The boys were fired up,” Cody Bellinger said. “…he’s just playing really well. It’s really good to see.”
It must be noted that Stanton did steal a base in the 2024 ALDS, but a regular-season base — when the stakes are not as high nor the urgency to win the same — signals something different.
Stanton, now 36, is four seasons removed from his last All-Star appearance, not to mention nearly a decade removed from his only career MVP Award. Focus has always been on his health, most recently elbows, which pushed him to the injured list last year.
But despite his disclosure that those elbows are not well enough to “open a bag of chips,” Stanton spent spring training hitting near home run after near home run while hitting four real ones in 11 games. So far in the regular season, he is hitting .393 with a 1.004 OPS. It was his two-run single in the bottom of the eighth that put the Yankees ahead for good in a back-and-forth game.
“You go back to the end of ‘24 and the playoff run in ‘24 and what he was, then last year, he might have been as good as ever when he came back [from injury],” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said this weekend. “He was such a massive presence in the middle of our order, as he was in ‘24. I feel there was real consistency to what he was doing. Despite being older, man, he’s still so good — and in a lot of ways better.”
Boone was right about Stanton being as good as ever in 2025: In 77 games, Stanton hit .273 with 24 homers for a .944 OPS. Over a full 162, that would project to 50 homers — his second-highest single-season total ever.
Of course, the reason Stanton only has one 50-homer season to his name is health, not talent. And after his stolen base, he would not go so far as to agree with the idea that taking off for second suggests his legs must be healthier than ever.
“I’m out there playing,” Stanton said. “So we’re good.”
Perhaps obviously, Stanton will not play anywhere close to 162 games this year precisely so the Yankees can ensure he is available to reemerge as a postseason buzzsaw when they need him in October.
Still, his resurgence serves as a reminder of how prolific he has been when healthy: For example, coming into Sunday’s series finale, Stanton is 46 home runs away from 500 in his career. He likely will not get enough at-bats to reach that number this season, in part because it is better for the Yankees that he be healthy in October than chase history in September. Still, the way he is hitting in the at-bats he is taking suggests one of the best-ever versions of one of this era’s best pure sluggers might be back.
“I just think he’s gotten great at the preparation game for him personally: What does he need to do mentally, physically to be ready to go up and produce in a game,” Boone said. “He is just so mentally tough and disciplined to what he has to do that you really sense that and feel that being around him the last several years.”
Stanton has always been one of this team’s more respected clubhouse pillars — less publicly-facing than Judge and quieter than the rest, but as perceptive and even-keeled as they come. He did not need to produce like he did in the old days to be crucial to the success of this era of Yankees. But as they boast a team with all the necessary pieces to challenge for a title, it certainly would not hurt.
