Yankees Giancarlo Stanton says plenty in first presser of spring

During his first press conference of Spring Training 2019, Yankees slugger Giancarlo Stanton didn’t shy away from his critics or the love lost for his former club, the Marlins.

For all the grief Giancarlo Stanton endured during his first season in New York, he was still very productive for the Yankees.

Coming off a once in a lifetime type NL MVP campaign in 2017, anything short of .281/.376/.631 with 123 runs scored, 58 home runs and 132 RBIs while playing in a career-high 159 games was going to be considered subpar.

Throw in the fact that Stanton makes $26 million per season and had never before played in a Postseason game, let alone a pressure-packed series such as last year’s ALDS — and it’s no wonder he wasn’t able to reach the unrealistic heights placed on him.

However, Stanton still led the 2018 Yankees in games played (158), runs scored (102), home runs (38) and RBIs (100). He also finished second on the club in hits (164) and doubles (34) — and was third in walks (70), OBP (.343) and SLG (.509).

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Even still, some will say the Yanks could have made the playoffs without Stanton’s stick in the lineup — to which I whole-heartedly disagree.

Though he didn’t quite shine when Aaron Judge was out of action for seven weeks with a broken hamate bone, his presence alone helped other hitters such as Aaron Hicks, Luke Voit and Miguel Andujar get better pitches to hit.

Entering his second season in the Bronx, there is no reason why at still only 29, Stanton can’t exceed last years stats and lofty expectations.

During his first press conference of the spring, Stanton was a bit on the defensive side. When asked about his closed stance, which changed dramatically from 2017, perhaps in order to take advantage of the short porch at Yankee Stadium, per NJ.com, Stanton replied:

"“I know how I feel and what’s good,” Stanton told reporters Monday, the first day position players reported officially to George M. Steinbrenner Field. “So, you guys can be hitting coaches all you’d like.”"

A career-high 211 strikeouts, one season removed from 163 led many to believe he was pressing. With much of the broad side of his back turned towards first base — especially during the first half of last year, it’ll be interesting to see if Stanton opens up — allowing himself to drive the ball to all fields with regularity.

When asked about the most significant difference between playing in New York as opposed to Miami, where he spent the first eight season’s of his career, Stanton had this to say:

"“It’s not about learning, it’s more just playing in games when you’re in it past May 7th — which I’d never done. So that’s the biggest difference.”"

Despite the shade thrown Miami’s way (regardless of how true it is) or Stanton’s insistence that his stance is just fine, manager Aaron Boone expects the slugger to settle in just fine in 2019.

"I think the one thing with Giancarlo that we noticed or as we dug into things, especially that we were aware of last year, the thing he sees a pitcher, he’s one of those guys that really benefits from that.”"